True WesT s Ultimate historic travel gUide

OUR 63Rd YEAR dEcEmbER 2016

Wyatt earp
the life &
legend of
hugh oBrian
1926-2016

Plus!

Daniel Boones
last Hunt
texas ranger
JoaqUin Jacksons
lasting inflUence
the last stage
roBBery?

$5.99 TrueWestMagazine.com
Reputation matters.

Historic Custer Battlefield Rifle.

(Details upon request)

SHOW & AUCTION

JANUARY 21-22, 2017
MESA, ARIZONA
WESTERN AMERICANA ANTIQUE SHOW
Weekend Shopping Event!
Over 150 national dealers
Saturday, January 21, 9:00 am - 4:00 pm
Sunday, January 22, 9:00 am - 3:00 pm
$10 daily or purchase online and save:
OldWestEvents.com/purchase-tickets

SHOW LOCATION
Show Location:
Mesa Convention Center
263 N. Center Street, Mesa, AZ 85201

WESTERN AMERICANA AUCTION

Saturday, January 21, 5:00 pm
Preview Hours:
Thursday, January 19, 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Friday, January 20, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Saturday, January 21, 9:00 am - 4:30 pm
Purchase catalogs online:
OldWestEvents.com/catalogs

AUCTION LOCATION
Phoenix Marriott Mesa
Keyston Bros. San Francisco Exhibition Saddle 200 N. Centennial Way, Mesa, AZ 85201
(est. $70,000-90,000) Next door to the show

PH: 480-779-WEST (9378) | FAX: 855-779-WEST (9378) | ContactUs@OldWestEvents.com

OldWestEvents.com
 Image by Rhonda Hole

Adoption
UNTOUCHED
Opportunities OR GENTLED
Theres a wild horse or burro for you.
Oct. 21 - 22
Waterloo, IA
Nov. 4 - 5
Unadilla, GA
Nov. 12
Trained Horses
Heber City, UT
Nov. 18 - 19
Navasota, TX
Jan. 6 - 7
Mercedes, TX
Feb. 3 - 4
Carrizo Springs, TX
Feb. 3 - 4
Okeechobee, FL
March 24 - 25
Rainsville, AL
April 7 - 8
Batesville, MS
April 21 - 22
Lumberton, NC

UNIQUELY AMERICAN.
UNIQUELY YOURS.

If you dont see a location near

you listed above, please visit
BLM.gov
or call 866.468.7826
 Ope n i ngShOt

We Take You There

t r u e
4 w e st
 Surveying the 40th Parallel
Conducting field work from 1867 to 1872, Clarence King led his team on a geological exploration of the 40th
parallel, north from northeastern California through Nevada to eastern Wyoming. This 1868 photograph by
Timothy H. OSullivan shows the King survey team at their camp in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory. Dont miss
our January 2017 issue, which will feature 100 photographs taken during frontier West expeditions.
Courtesy Library of Congress
 True West captures the spirit of the West with
authenticity, personality and humor by providing
a necessary link from our history to our present.
True West Online
TrueWestMagazine.com
December 2016 Online and Social Media Content
>
EDITORIAL
EXECUTIVE EDITOR: Bob Boze Bell
EDITOR: Meghan Saar
EDITORIAL TEAM
Senior Editor: Stuart Rosebrook
Features Editor: Mark Boardman
Copy Editor: Beth Deveny
Firearms Editor: Phil Spangenberger
Join the Conversation
Westerns Film Editor: Henry C. Parke John Ford, as a poet of the cinema, is very responsible
Military History Editor: Col. Alan C. Huffines, U.S. Army
Preservation Editor: Jana Bommersbach
for keeping the West we love alive in our hearts and
Social Media Editor: Rhiannon Deremo minds. His Westerns were akin to the great works of
Content Curator: Cameron Douglas Russell and Remington, and layered in meaning.... The
PRODUCTION MANAGER: Robert Ray gift of the poet, perhaps the duty, is, as Shakespeare
ART DIRECTOR: Daniel Harshberger
GRAPHIC DESIGNER: Rebecca Edwards
put it, to hold the mirror up to nature. And Ford did
MAPINATOR EMERITUS: Gus Walker that.
HISTORICAL CONSULTANT: Paul Hutton - Kim Winthrop Hoffman of San Francisco, California
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Tom Augherton, Allen Barra, Leo W. Banks, John Beckett,
Terry A. Del Bene, John Boessenecker, Johnny D. Boggs,
Richard H. Dillon, Drew Gomber, Kevin Kibsey,
Dr. Jim Kornberg, Leon Metz, Sherry Monahan,
Candy Moulton, Frederick Nolan, Gary Roberts,
Andy Thomas, Marshall Trimble, Linda Wommack Go behind the scenes of True West with Bob Boze
ARCHIVIST/PROOFREADER: Ron Frieling Bell to see this painting, Lowdermilk: The Dude
PUBLISHER EMERITUS: Robert G. McCubbin
TRUE WEST FOUNDER: Joe Austell Small (1914-1994)
Wrangler, No. 1, inspired by the feature on p. 40,
and more of the executive editors Daily Whipouts
ADVERTISING/BUSINESS (Search for September 26, 2016).
PRESIDENT & CEO: Bob Boze Bell Blog.TrueWestMagazine.com
PUBLISHER & CRO: Ken Amorosano
GENERAL MANAGER: Carole Compton Glenn
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER: Dave Daiss
SALES & MARKETING DIRECTOR: Ken Amorosano
REGIONAL SALES MANAGERS
Greg Carroll (greg@twmag.com)
Arizona, California, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, The first expedition to explore central Arizona was
Nevada & Washington undertaken by the Walker Party commanded by Joseph
Cynthia Burke (cynthia@twmag.com)
Rutherford Walker (shown in this circa 1860 photograph
Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma,
South Dakota, Utah & Wyoming by Mathew Brady). In May 1863, his party discovered gold
Sheri Riley (sheri@twmag.com) at Lynx Creek, the news of which attracted folks to the area
Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oregon, that would become Prescott. Find this and more historical
Tennessee & Texas
ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT: Susan Kulenkamp
photography on our Western History board.
December 2016, Vol. 63, #12, Whole #563. True West (ISSN 0041-3615) Pinterest.com/TrueWestMag
is published twelve times a year (January, February, March, April,
May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December)
by True West Publishing, Inc., 6702 E. Cave Creek Rd, Suite #5 Cave
Creek, AZ 85331. 480-575-1881. Periodical postage paid at Cave

4 46
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Registration Number R132182866. OPENING SHOT UNSUNG
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POSTMASTER: Please send address change to: True West,
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United States of America. Copyright 2016 by True West
9 TO THE POINT 50 RENEGADE ROADS
Publishing, Inc.
Information provided is for educational or entertainment purposes
10 TRUTH BE KNOWN 56 FRONTIER FARE
only. True West Publishing, Inc. assumes no liability or responsibility
for any inaccurate, delayed or incomplete information, nor for any 12 INVESTIGATING HISTORY 58 WESTERN BOOKS
14 64
actions taken in reliance thereon.
Any unsolicited manuscripts, proposals, query letters, research, OLD WEST SAVIORS WESTERN MOVIES
images or other documents that we receive will not be returned,
and True West Publishing is not responsible for any materials
submitted.
16 COLLECTING THE WEST 68 TRUE WESTERN TOWNS
SUBSCRIPTIONS, RENEWALS 19 SHOOTING FROM THE HIP 105 WESTERN ROUNDUP
AND ADDRESS CHANGES
888-687-1881 42 CLASSIC GUNFIGHTS 110 ASK THE MARSHALL
FAX: 480-575-1903 112 WHAT HISTORY HAS
Follow us on:
TAUGHT ME
 INSIDE THIS ISSUE

22
DECEMBER 2016 VOLUME 63 ISSUE 12

22 THE LIFE & LEGEND OF HUGH OBRIAN

Paying tribute to the man whose role as Wyatt Earp
defined his acting career.
By Henry C. Parke

26 DANIEL BOONE: PASSING THE TORCH

The backwoodsmans remarkable hunts out west
foreshadowed the exploits of our iconic Mountain Men.
By Gary Zaboly

32 THE LASTING INFLUENCE OF TEXAS

RANGER JOAQUIN JACKSON
Joaquin Jacksons contributions to the history of
these legendary lawmen are highlighted in his striking

32
similiarities with another storied Texas Ranger.
By Mark Boardman

26 35 HOLLYWOODS TEXAS RANGER

Remembering Joaquin Jacksons contributions to the

36 Western film genre.

By Henry C. Parke

36 A COLONELS SECRET WEAPON

How two women shaped historys view of one of the
worst defeats the U.S. Army ever suffered at the hands of
American Indians.
By Derek Catron

40 40 SINGING AT THE BIG CORRAL

Arizonas father of dude ranching was one of the
Wests greatest early cowboy balladeers.
By Marshall Trimble

72 TRUE WESTS ULTIMATE

HISTORIC TRAVEL GUIDE

72
Discover where history happened, and experience an
Old West adventure of a lifetime.
Cover design by Dan Harshberger/
Hugh OBrian photo courtesy ABCs By Stuart Rosebrook
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp

T R U E
7 W E ST
S h o o t i ng B ac k
C o m p i l e d BY R o B e Rt R aY

a civilizeD PersPective
In the Shooting Back section over the last several issues of True West, a large
allotment has been given to comments on the Buffalo Soldiers and all have been
along the lines of one gentlemans statement, calling the Buffalo Soldiers, a
group of forgotten and under served American heroes.
As an old Indian, I agree these heroes should receive the recognition they
deserve for their contribution to the utter decimation of the Western Indian
Tribes, their way of life, the loss of their homelands and their final captivity and
incarceration in the damnable purgatory known as the Indian Reservation. I
believe history shows us the European white mans predilection for the removal,
enslavement and eradication of the native peoples in their appetite for conquering
new lands. I can only believe the Buffalo Soldier joined the white man in the wars
with the Indian as another means of survival after their freedom from the white
mans enslavement of a few years prior.
Old age has shown me that, concerning war, hero is a designation relative to
which side one belongs. I do not foresee this politically incorrect opinion of an old Bat Masterson included this photograph of Doc
Indian to ever reach publication. I have been a loyal patron of True West for over Holliday in a 1907 article about the gunfighter,
five decades and will happily continue to be so. published in Human Life magazine.
true West arChives
N. Redbone
A Civilized Indian of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
Fake Doc HolliDay?
Walking tHe Walk
I was flabbergasted when I read the Classic Gunfights
I loved the Tombstone Walk Down issue [September 2016]. Great analysis of story in your September 2016 The Walk Down issue.
how the famous walk was portrayed in various Westerns. One classic Western was As a fellow Georgian (also from Valdosta, like Doc
overlooked 2003s Open Range, for its climactic gunfight between the bad guys Holliday), I enjoy reading about the gunfighter. Imagine
and Kevin Costners hired hand and his men. my dismay when I find a picture labeled as Doc, which
your magazine has debunked as a fraud. With your
Paul Hoylen
talents, Bob, you could have easily sketched in a picture
Deming, New Mexico
based on the two known photos of Doc, rather than use
one you yourself have debunked. Did you fall asleep at
caP & Ball the corral or just get lazy?
My maternal great-grandfather, born in Prussia, came to America as a child. In Larry Lane
the 1860s, he was a teenager living in Wisconsin. When the Civil War broke out, he Littleton, Colorado
and two brothers joined the Wisconsin 24th Infantry in the Union Army. In action Bob Boze Bell responds: This photo is controversial,
near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, my great-grandfather was under fire on the line. but it was first published with Bat Mastersons
While he was trying to find cover near a tree, a ricocheting rifle ball came off blessinghe personally knew Docso I dont think you
the tree and struck him in the top of his forage cap. For all of his life, and he lived can say its fake. Questionable, yes, but not debunked.
to around 80, he credited the design of his As for the lazy part, yes, I have been known, from time
cap for saving his life. He claimed the top to time, to take the easy way out.
of the cap was stiff enough to protect his
skull from fatal injury. The TricksTer is coming
Bill Dunn
I enjoyed the articles on the Mickey Free graphic
High River, Alberta, Canada
novel illustrated by Bob Boze Bell [March 2015 &
Nov/Dec 2008], but was left confused if this book is in

Oops! print. Could I buy a copy to enjoy, or, if it is yet to be

published, can I help make that happen?
In Chris Ensss book review, in the October 2016 issue,
of Erich Martin Hickss Mary Fields aka Stagecoach Mary, Aaron Warner
her birthplace was listed as Tennessee. According to Bellevue, Michigan
Hickss new research, Vicksburg, Mississippi, was most
Bob Boze Bell responds: We have big plans for The
likely her birthplace, and Mary was not part of the
Dunne family as a slave in Tennessee.
Trickster, but its not in graphic novel formyet. Ill
let you know as soon as we get ready to go to press.
Courtesy eriCh Martin hiCks

t r u e
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 To The poinT
BY B o B B oz e B e l l

The Cover Story

A behind-the-scenes look at the knockdown, drag-out fights we have over what goes on our cover.

W
e usually have a story in
mind to feature on our
cover, but this issue was
particularly difficult
because we had so many good, solid
stories and images, the True West team
couldnt decide. Or, more accurately, we
couldnt agree.
When this happens, I resort to three
tactics: Yelling, cajoling and pleading. And
when that doesnt work, I go for the stats.
First off, I canvassome would say
harassevery reader I meet in person.
Whenever customers walk through the
front door of the True West World
Headquarters, I drag them into our
conference room and make them choose
the cover they would most likely pick up
off the newsstand.
Then I send the covers in contention (in
this case, the four shown) to our friends
and their friends families, and ask them
to weigh in. Third, I put the covers up on
Facebook to get a nationwide vote.
The 500-plus responses helped us
narrow down this issues cover to two:
Joaquin Jackson (#2) and Hugh OBrian
(#4), but all the covers did well. Ultimately,
we cinched the deal with the cover that
spoke to the 79 million Baby Boomers who
grew up watching OBrian as Wyatt Earp.
We really could have put any of the four
images on the cover and attracted readers
at the newsstands. The designs are a
testament to Dan The Man Harshbergers
cover prowess, and each one speaks to the
strength of the stories you will find in this
issue. They are all cover worthy!
Cover-Worthy Stories: 1 Gary Zaboly illustrates and tells a compelling story about
Daniel Boones last hunt at age 81. 2 Mark Boardmans insightful piece on the lasting
influence of Texas Ranger Joaquin Jackson. 3 This James Bama oil represents the second
generation of Mountain Men who influenced Boone, such as Jim Bridger, Jedediah Smith,
Kit Carson and Joseph Walker. 4 An homage to the life and legend of Hugh OBrian,the
For a behind-the-scenes look at running Wyatt Earp most of the 79 million Baby Boomers will always remember.
this magazine, check out BBBs daily blog
Cover art: #1 IlluStrated by Gary Zaboly; #2 by dan WInterS; #3 Ready to Rendezvous CourteSy SCottSdaleS MuSeuM of the WeSt / tIM
at TWMag.com peterSon ColleCtIon; #4 CourteSy abC

t r u e
9 w e st
T RU T H B E K NOW N
C O M P I L E D BY R O B E RT R AY

Quotes Bizarro BY DA N P I R A R O

They may forget what you

saidbut they will never forget
how you made them feel.
Carl W. Buehner, Mormon church leader

Every historian after Herodotus

stands in someones shadows,
and even he had to bow a little
to Homer.
Paul Cool (1950-2016), Old West historian

Nobody ever forgets

where he buried the
hatchet.
Kin Hubbard, American humorist

Our ignorance of history makes

us libel our own times. People
have always been like this.
Gustave Flaubert, French novelist

Most Texans think Hanukkah is

some sort of duck call.
Richard Lewis, American comedian
Money and success dont
change people; they merely
amplify what is already there.
Will Smith, American actor
shown here in 1999s Wild Wild West

Wait for me, Old Vaquero Saying

Wild Bill!
Andy Devine, as sidekick Jingles P. Jones,
in the TV series The Adventures
of Wild Bill Hickok Anger is a thief
who steals away the
COURTESY SCREEN GEMS nice moments.

T R U E
10 W E ST
t r u e
11 w e st
I N V E ST I GAT I NG H I ST O RY
BY M A R K B O A R D M A N
The Last
Stage Robbery?
Marking the 100th anniversary of an almost-forgotten holdup.
T
he nations last stagecoach
robbery took place on December
5, 1916, at Nevadas Jarbidge
Canyon. Calling it a stagecoach robbery
is an overstatement. The vehicle
in question was actually a small
two-horse mail wagon.
Driver Fred Searcy delivered
mail and the mining payroll
between Jarbidge and the nearest
town, Rogerson, Idaho, about 65
miles north. He had only been
driving the wagon for a couple of weeks.
On that snowy night, just after six, Searcy
approached Jarbidge through the canyon
from the north. A stranger rushed out of the
bushes, stepped onto the back of the wagon
and put a bullet into the drivers head from
close range. Searcy never even had a chance.
A resident heard the gunshot. But when
he saw the wagon, driven by someone in a
long coat, continue down the road toward
town, he assumed all was well.
When Searcy and the wagon, with its
roughly $4,000 payroll, failed to show up in
Jarbidge, a search party went out around
nine. An hour later, the group found the
T R U E
12 W E ST
wagon and the drivers body. At first light,
they found other evidenceincluding a long,
heavy black coat worn by the killer.
Investigators had seen a drifter named
Ben Kuhl wearing just that kind
of coat. He had a minor criminal
record and had been working
odd jobs. Lawmen arrested Kuhl
and two pals, Ed Beck and
William McGraw, and discovered
a .44 pistol, believed to be the
murder weapon. They took the
trio to Elko, about 100 miles away, for trial.
Kuhl was the first to face justice, in
September 1917. He claimed he was in a
saloon the night of the holdup, but
witnesses said he left for about an hour.
Experts also said a bloody palm print on
an envelope, found at the crime scene,
matched Kuhlsthe first time palm print
evidence was used in a U.S. court. In
separate trials, McGraw testified that Beck
owned the pistol, while Beck testified that
Kuhl admitted to killing Searcy.
After an 18-day trial, the jury deliberated
just two hours before finding Kuhl guilty.
The judge sentenced him to death and gave
Jarbidge (left), a Nevada mining town,
population around 1,000, earned fame
when a holdup brought about the first palm
print introduced as evidence in a U.S.
court (center).
TRUE WEST ARCHIVES
ED BECK
BEN KUHL
Ed Beck got the better end of the deal.
Ben Kuhl served the most prison time
and was 61 when released in May 1945.
He died of tuberculosis in San Francisco,
California, the following year.
COURTESY NEVADA STATE LIBRARY, ARCHIVES
AND PUBLIC RECORDS
Kuhl a choiceexecution by hanging or
firing squad. Kuhl chose the rifles.
But he never faced them. After appeals,
he received a sentence commuted to life.
For nearly 28 years, Kuhl raised chickens
at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City.
His friends fared better at trial. McGraw
served 10 months behind bars after ratting
on Beck and Kuhl. Beck served more than
six years.
Nobody recovered the $4,000 take. If youd
like to look for it, go ahead. But Jarbidge is
about as isolated as it was 100 years ago.
Without paved roads within 20 miles of town,
it is almost inaccessible in the winterjust
like it was on the night of the so-called last
stagecoach robbery.
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O L D W E ST S AV I O R S
BY J A N A B O M M E R S B A C H
In Frank Lloyd
Wrights Shadow
Students of the legendary architect breathe new life into the Old West.
W
hat happens when you take an
internationally recognized
architecture school like Taliesin
Westcreated by the legendary Frank Lloyd
Wrightand focus on Old West mining towns
like Globe and Miami in Arizona?
You have a first-of-its-kind partnership
that promises to bring new life into
communities that date back nearly 150 years.
Taliesin calls it The Grand Experiment.
Their fellows and students in Scottsdale
have pledged to spend the next four years
helping these communities reexamine their
mining history and discuss their options
when booms go to bust.
We took a motorcycle ride through
Arizona, looking for a project for our
students, Cristina Murphy remembers
from that December day in 2014 when she
and her teaching partner, Andrea Bertassi,
first saw Miami and Globe.
On their left were mines that once served
as major copper producers in the nation
still open, but slated to close for good in a
few years. To their right was the Tonto
National Forest. Both Italian architects
T R U E
14 W E ST
were struck by the beauty
of the area, the antique
downtowns, the cultural
diversity and the nicest sur-
prise of allan active
community. This is just what we were
looking forwhat design can
do in the countryside, Bertassi says.
The icing on the cake was the areas
historic significance: Arizonas first
governor, George W.P. Hunt, made Globe
his first Arizona home; Arizonas first female
governor, Rose Mofford, grew up in Globe.
Town leaders reacted with enthusiasm.
We saw this as a rare window of opportunity
to tap into the schools talent, vision,
resources and planning to address a wide
range of needs in our area, says Linda
Oddonetto, board president of the United
Fund of Globe-Miami.
When the project kicked off in 2015, the
visiting fellows led their students into the
towns for research. Taliesin did not want
to replace buildings that have stood in Globe
since its founding in 1875 or in Miami since
1909. But these buildings could bring
After discovering the Globe-Miama area
of Arizona while visiting as Taliesin West
fellows, Italian architects Cristina Murphy
and Andrea Bertassi launched a four-year
partnership in sustainabilityto help
these mining communities find focus.
Taliesin students have already helped paint
downtown Miami (inset) and plan to do the
same for Globe, shown here in 1898.
TALIESIN WEST PHOTO COURTESY SPRING 2016 INTERMEDIATE
STUDIO, TALIESIN; GLOBE PHOTO TRUE WEST ARCHIVES
renewed vitality to the
communities.
We developed a
road map and identified
45 potential projects,
Murphy says. The
community decided we
should focus on the
Miami Library first.
By creating a design
that opens up to reveal the forest
outside, Taliesin hopes to make the library
both a place of books and a place of
community gatherings.
Taliesin students have already dug in on
other community efforts. This April, students
helped more than 150 community volunteers
paint the town, scraping, painting and
cleaning up debris from downtown Miami. A
similar project is planned in Globe. Residents
can view the road map plans at the Bullion
Plaza in Miami and the Cobre Valley Center
for the Arts in Globe.
Murphy and Bertassi hope more helping
hands get involved in revitalizing these
historic mining towns.
Jana Bommersbach has earned recognition as Arizonas
Journalist of the Year and won an Emmy and two Lifetime
Achievement Awards. She cowrote the Emmy-winning
Outrageous Arizona and has written two true crime books,
a childrens book and the historical novel Cattle Kate.
C o l l e C t i ng t h e W e st
BY M e g h a n S a a r
Portrait of a
Mountain Man
An artist famous for his majestic Rocky Mountain landscapes may have painted a likeness of Jim Bridger.
A
lbert Bierstadt legitimized the
Western American landscape
as a serious subject, first
bringing to the East and the
world the majestic perpendicular granite
peaks of the Rocky Mountains. Many would
be surprised to learn the artist, far more
prolific in his landscape art, also painted
about a dozen portraits. One, credited as
being a portrait of mountain man Jim
Bridger, hit the auction block at Jackson
Hole Art Auction on September 17, 2016.
Collectors bid more than $1.7 million for
Western artworks sold at the auction in
Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
The Bierstadt portrait most likely dates
to 1859 during the artists first trip west,
Melissa Webster Speidel, director of the
Albert Bierstadt Catalogue Raisonn Project,
states in the auction catalogue. She adds,
During the trip, Bierstadt painted the portrait
of a scout who is thought to be Jim Bridger.
Although Bierstadt and Bridger certainly
could have crossed paths before the
Mountain Man died in 1881, the idea that
Bierstadt met Bridger during his 1859
sketching tour, as an artist for Frederick W.
Landers expedition, is unlikely.
Both were out West that year, but the
Lander party explored the Rocky Mountain
region, while Bridger served as a guide for
Capt. W.F. Raynolds expedition of the
region that would become Yellowstone
National Park. If the artist met Bridger in
1859, the most likely scenario would be
during his weeks in April in St. Joseph,
Missouri, before the expedition departed
on May 5. Bridger also left for his trip from
St. Joseph, although later, on May 28. But
perhaps he was in the area, after Raynolds
got his orders on April 13.
Bierstadt did meet Rocky Mountain
trappers, with sketches from the 1859 trip
t r u e
16 w e st
informing works that include his 1861 oil
The Trappers Camp. And he did focus on
the people he came across, taking
stereographs of them, including, reportedly,
one of a trapper, and sketching them. For
a figure-painter, there is an abundance of
fine subjects. The manners and customs of
the Indians are still as they were hundreds
of years ago, and now is the time to paint
them, for they are rapidly passing away, and
soon will be known only in history, he
wrote, in a July 10, 1859, letter.
Another opportunity Bierstadt may have
had to meet Bridger was in 1863, when he
set out on a Rocky Mountain journey to
California. Bridger was guiding Lt. Col.
William Oliver Collins in the area of present-
day Wyomings Fort Laramie that year, Is this a portrait of Mountain Man Jim
before September, when he set off to take Bridger? Known for his landscapes, Albert
Bierstadt painted about a dozen portraits
Capt. Jacob Humfreville to South Park,
in his career, including this one that sold
Colorado Territory, wintering with him at
for a $27,500 bid.
Fort Laramie.
Bierstadt left on May 12 and was in San
Francisco, California, by July 17. Although
Notable Art Lots Included
he could have met the Mountain Man
somewhere in between, the scenario proves (All images courtesy Jackson Hole Art Auction)
more unlikely when you consider his
traveling partner. Journalist Fitz Hugh
Ludlow wrote a book, The Heart of the
Continent, inspired by his journey with
UPCOMING AUCTIONS
Bierstadt; he mentions Bridger as the man
behind Bridgers Pass, but does not state
December 2-4, 2016
Historic Firearms
that he ever met him. Rock Island Auction Company
Without provenance documenting the (Rock Island, IL)
artist ever met the Mountain Man, Bierstadt RockIslandAuction.com
may have drawn the portrait based on the 800-238-8022
Rocky Mountain trappers he came across in December 5, 2016
his travels. In any case, the portrait remains American Indian Art
Bonhams (San Francisco, CA)
a rare portrayal by an artist more famous for
Bonhams.com 415-503-3550
his awe-inspiring landscapes.
December 10-11, 2016
Arms & Armor and Civil War & Militaria
Heritage Auctions (Dallas, TX)
HA.com 877-437-4824
The top lot hammered down at the auction
for $500,000. N.C. Wyeths He Rode Away, Buffalo Hunting scenes are a popular theme in historical Western artworks. This 1894 oil,
Following a Dim Trail Among the Sage is painted by master artist Charles M. Russell, sold for a $425,000 bid.
one of three illustrations Wyeth created for
an October 1909 The Red Book Magazine
short story about Navajo Svenson, who
strikes out to find work among white men.

After a late fall hunt, a band of Crows hauls their replenished robes and food supplies
on horse travois over a windswept ridge in Wyoming to their winter shelter
in John Clymers Moving Camp; $325,000.

Dwarfed by the majesty

of the New Mexico
landscape, this covered
wagon travels beneath
dark clouds and a
dramatic sunburst in
Walter Ufers October,
This Maynard Dixon relic is a preliminary
which reinforces the
design of a cattle drive for a portion of the
power of nature over
Grassland mural, one of two Dixon murals
man; $320,000.
featured at the Golden Gate International
Exposition in 1939. The murals were
destroyed in 1941 when a naval base opened
at San Franciscos Treasure Island; $350,000.

t r u e
17 w e st
 The Smoke Wagon
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Hardened * Not all features available on all models. Please visit TaylorsFirearms.com for available configurations.

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P:540-722-2017
 S H O O T I NG F RO M T H E H I P
BY P H I L S PA N G E N B E R G E R

A Pistol For
Dragoons
The U.S. Armys first official percussion handgun was designed
especially for the man who fought on horseback.

W
ith the adoption of the U.S.
Dragoons on March 5, 1833,
the U.S. Army found itself
woefully lacking in pistols for a mounted
unit. Handguns at that time were close-
range, single-shot affairs, and the U.S.
Ordnance Department had a hodge-podge
of old flintlock pistols on hand, going all the
way back to the 1805 Harpers Ferry models.
After issuing an assortment of pistolsmany
either in poor condition or utterly
unserviceable, military heads realized that
new arms were sorely needed.

Handguns at that
time were close-range,
single-shot affairs...
In 1836 the Ordnance Department
contracted for a newer model. Still a
flintlock, the Model 1836 Pistol, produced
by Asa Waters and Robert Johnson was to
be the last of the government flintlock
pistols. With the adoption of the Model 1841
Mississippi rifle, the Ordnance Department
began contracting for pistols in percussion
ignition, but it wasnt until 1842 that a
martial caplock pistol was finally designed
especially for the mounted soldier.
Enter the Model 1842 Pistol. Manufactured
between 1845 and 1852, and meeting a pattern
specified by Springfield Armory, Henry Aston
and Ira N. Johnson, both of Middletown,
Connecticut, were contracted and produced
about 24,000 and 10,000 of these horse pistols,
respectively. Another 1,000 Model 42s were
The Model 1842 pistol served the Dragoons faithfully during the last two decades before the
made by the Palmetto Armory of Columbia,
Civil War. This roguish-looking fellow, armed with a pair of 42 horse pistols and an 1840 heavy
South Carolina. The 1842 represents the first cavalry saber, looks like hes ready to take on all comers...but hed best not let his sergeant see
official U.S. percussion pistol, although it him wearing his eagle belt plate upside down.
wasnt the first caplock handgun that went COURTESY HERB PECK, JR. COLLECTION

T R U E
19 W E ST
 Contracted to Middletown, Connecticut,
manufacturers H. Aston and Ira N. Johnson, this .54
caliber, H. Aston-made Model 1842 was produced in
1849. The swivel-type ramrod prevented its loss during
reloading while mounted.
PHOTOS COURTESY PHIL SPANGENBERGER COLLECTION

The M1842s lockplate is held in place

by two screws and its round smoothbore
barrel is affixed to the stock via a screw in the barrel tang
and a brass barrel band with a strap extension that joins the
side plate. Manufactured to specs from Springfield Arsenal, the
first guns were delivered to the government in late 1846.

into service, due to earlier conversions from
flintlock to cap-and-ball, and the fact that
300 of the Model 1842 Percussion Navy
Pistols were delivered before that arms
contract was officially signed.
With the exception of its percussion
ignition and brass furniture, the M1842
was an exact copy of the 1836 model. Like
its predecessor, the heavy, walnut stocked
42 was designed for mounted use. It was
equipped with a permanently affixed,
swivel-type ramrod with a button-shaped
head, while the opposite end was threaded
for a ball-pulling screw or a wiper
attachment. The .54 caliber single-shot
horse pistol weighs in at 2 pounds, 12
ounces and measures 14 inches in overall
length. Its 8-inch round smoothbore
barrel is held in place by a screw in the
barrel tang and a brass barrel band with
a strap extension that joins the side plate.
The round butt cap/back strap is brass,
as are the trigger guard and plate. Another
departure from earlier models is that the
trigger guard is attached to the trigger
plate via a pair of spanner nuts, rather
than being riveted.
The lockplate bears the stamping U.S./
H. Aston, on two lines in the center of the
plate (forward of the hammer) and
stamped behind the hammer are MIDDTN/
CONN and the date of manufacture.
Stamped on three lines on the barrels
breech, is U.S./ inspectors initials/P
(proof mark). Another date stamping is
found on the barrel tang. The sight is a
simple brass blade front sight.
A solid workhorse pistol, the M1842

AVAILABLE AT A served the 1st and 2nd Dragoons faithfully

during the last two decades before the
FINE RETAILER A reliable and powerful caplock arm, the
M1842 saw use by many Westerners,
Civil War and a goodly number of them

NEAR YOU
including Indians, for decades. In this
post-Civil War photo Ree Chief Lone Dog
proudly displays his tack-decorated 42
horse pistol along with his war club.
MILLERRANCH1918.COM
COURTESY BOB CORONATO, ROGUES GALLERY
saw use during that conflict as well. Many
also got into the hands of the general
public, for in February of 1849, the War
Department offered to sell arms and
ammunition at cost to civilians bound for

T R U E
20 W E ST
the West Coast. John E. Durivage, a
newspaper correspondent for the New
Orleans Daily Picayune, jumped at the
chance to arm himself with army
weaponry as he prepared to trek west.
In March 1849, he wrote back to his
paper, the company was furnished with
brand-new Mississippi rifles and
percussion locked (most likely M1842)
holster pistols from the United States
Arsenal at Baton Rouge. Outfitted with
government rifles and horse pistols, these
hardy men felt they were well armed and
prepared to take on the frontier.

Phil Spangenberger has written for Guns &

Ammo, appears on the History Channel and other
documentary networks, produces Wild West shows,
is a Hollywood gun coach and character actor,
and is True Wests Firearms Editor.
COURTESY PHIL SPANGENBERGER

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Arms 1873 lever-action ries, and
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Phil Spangenberger Uberti.com
TheHuntingShack.com
T R U E
21 W E ST
T r i b u T e s : Hugh OBrian 1925-2016
By H e n ry C . Pa r k e
The Life and Legend
of Hugh OBrian
O
ne role defined Hugh
OBrians acting
careerthe title
character in The Life and
Legend of Wyatt Earp.
The adult Western premiered
on ABC on September 661
years and one day before the
actor passed away at the age of
91. Born Hugh Charles Krampe
in Rochester, New York, he
dropped out of college in 1942, at
19, to join the Marines, where he
became their youngest drill
sergeant. As ruggedly handsome
as any man has the right to be,
he embarked on an acting career
in Hollywood. In 1950, he
appeared in his first Western,
Beyond the Purple Hills, starring
Gene Autry. By his fourth year,
he had won the Golden Globe for
Most Promising Newcomer, for
his performance in The Man
from the Alamo.
But most people remember
him as The Man from
Tombstone.
Many of his friends and his coworkers,
on the big screen and the small, pay
tribute to Hugh OBrian:
I n 1954, Earl Holliman recalls, We
played brothers. Richard Widmark,
Hugh OBrian and I were the sons of
Spencer Tracy in a picture called Broken
Lance. Id seen him on the screen; I knew
he was a man-about-town and dating all
the girls at Fox. I wasnt sure I was going
to like him, but we sat together on the
plane to Nogales in Arizona, and he
laughed at my jokes.
So we became friends. In those days,
when you were a supporting actor, on
location, you shared a room with
t r u e
22 w e st
another supporting actor. Hugh and I
shared the same room. I liked Hugh; he
was easy and fun to work with, had a
nice sense of humor.
He was the most dedicated guy Id
ever seen. He really worked so hard on
his career. Every night he would be typing
letters to [showbiz columnists] Hedda
Hopper or Louella Parsons or Jimmy
Starr. I didnt want to do that much work,
but I really admired him for it.
Later on, he established a college
scholarship fund for young actors. That
was very generous of him, and one year,
he invited me to be one of the judges for
the scholarship.
L
ouis F. Edelman produced The
Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp.
If not for George
Montgomery turning
down the role, due to his
commitments for several
Western films, the world
may not have had the
privilege of seeing Hugh
OBrians Wyatt Earp (left).
All The Life and Legend of WyaTT earp
photos courtesy ABc
His daughter, Kate Edelman
Johnson, recalls, The first job I
ever had was answering Hugh
OBrians fan mail, when I was
12. I always said to him, Hugh,
I can still sign your name better
than you can. He was very,
very sweet.
My dad created The Life
and Legend of Wyatt Earp from
his love of Westerns. He found
Hugh, and it was magic. It was
such a major hit, because, up
until then, you had The Lone
Ranger or you had The Cisco
Kid, but they were made-up
characters. My father bought
the book by Stuart Lake. Stuart Lake had
interviewed Wyatt Earp just before the
lawman died in 1929. For the first couple
of years of the show, Stuart Lake was
alive, and he was a consultant.
Hugh had a great relationship with
Stuart Lake. Hugh created that costume,
with the flat hat and the brocaded vest
and the string tie. Hugh loved the role. He
got very into it; he studied it. He was that
character for all those years.
Hugh was always a little bit at war
with the producers. And yet, they knew
what they had. I remember the time when
they called Dad from Washington, D.C. to
say that Hugh had gone to Congress, and
they were about to arrest him. He went on
the floor of Congress with his costume
and his guns on. They asked, What should

we do? And my father actually
paused for a few minutes and
thought, Hmmm, what should I
do? Should I let him go to jail? No,
we were just picked up for a fifth
season. I guess youd better get
him out.
F rom 1958 to 1961, Morgan
Woodward played Shotgun
Gibbs in 81 episodes of Wyatt
Earp, opposite Hugh OBrian.
I was with him for four years.
Hugh was an unusual man,
Woodward says. He was not
hail fellow well met. When we
first got on the show, Hugh let
me know that he didnt want to
be upstaged, or anything like
that. And of course, Im the
sidekick. I let him know that I wanted
the show to last as long as possible;
wanted to make him look good and
make me look good. Once he got to
know me, we got along alright.
He was a good fellow; he had a good
heart. Hugh always invited me to his
birthday party, and I went to his 91st a
couple months ago. I had my 91st
birthday last Friday [September 16]. I
called to see how he was doing the other
day, and hed just gotten home from the
hospital. His kidneys were failing and his
liver was failing, and his wife, Virginia,
said hes not going to make it. And sure
enough, the next morning he died.
I n 1993, thirty years after Hugh
OBrian had left the role of Wyatt
Earp, producer Rob Word, working with
Kate Edelman Johnson, persuaded Hugh
to put the costume on again for a CBS
movie. The idea was to mix new scenes
with colorized footage from the series, to
bring the story up to 1918. Tombstone had
been a surprise Christmas smash, and the
Kevin Costner Wyatt Earp was coming in
the summer.
I figured if we called our movie, Wyatt
Earp: Return to Tombstone, and ran it
between them, wed confuse the viewers,
and theyd all tune in, which they did,
Word says. We were the first and only
Wyatt Earp movie ever to film in
Tombstone, Arizona. Working with Hugh
OBrian was not just a thrill for me, but for
everybody we met in Tombstone. Hugh
was 69, and still so incredibly handsome.
We had a scene with Harry Carey Jr.,
who was a little hard of hearing, as was
Hugh. In it, Wyatt was walking through
Boot Hill, and Digger Phelps, who was
Harry Carey Jr., spots him, and calls,
Wyatt! Wyatt! And Hugh was going to
turn and look at him, walk over and do
their scene. But Hugh couldnt hear him,
so he kept walking. So we had to set up
flags off-screen to let Hugh know when he
was being spoken to; and we had to do
the same thing for [Carey] and use
hand-signals to let them know who should
be talking. And thats how we got through
The Life and Legend of Wyatt
Earp, which aired on ABC from
1955-1961, along with CBSs
Gunsmoke, helped launch a
fantastic era of TV Westerns,
with as many as 40 on prime
time by the close of the 1950s.
the scene. It cracked us up and
cracked them up.
B ruce Boxleitner, who
himself played Wyatt
Earp, in 1983s I Married Wyatt
Earp, played the sheriff of
Cochise County in Wyatt Earp:
Return to Tombstone.
Hugh OBrian was quite
something else. He fit into that black
outfit, and he had that Buntline. I was
astoundedI was watching him do a
scene. He had to do this shoot-out with
Marty Kove and Bo Hopkins. And he beat
them to the draw every take, with that
gigantic three-foot long gun! Boxleitner
says with a laugh. It was quite amazing. I
said, Man, you havent lost it at all. No,
he said, I practice all the time.
We all enjoyed doing itI know Hugh
did. He was pretty flattered. I guess the
word is taciturnhe didnt talk a lot, but
when he did, everyone listened. He had
that kind of voice, and a very
commanding presence. I think he felt
playing Wyatt Earp was his legacy, and he
was very serious about it.
W hat actor was the most accurate
portrayer of Wyatt Earp? Casey
Tefertiller, author of Wyatt Earp: The
Life Behind the Legend, says, In my
opinion, it would be Hugh OBrian. If you
read what people say about him, he was
just cat quick. Hugh OBrian had that kind
t r u e
23 w e st
T r i b u T e s : Hugh OBrian 1925-2016
of quickness, that kind of ability, to
grab the gun out of someones hand as
they were drawing it. And Hugh OBrian
had a sternness about him.
P ierre ORourke appeared in
celebrity events that showcased
OBrian as Earp.
Appropriately, I met Hugh OBrian on
a Western film set, ORourke says. I
came to wonder if Wyatt Earp was much
different than the legendary actor who
portrayed him in The Life and Legend of
Wyatt Earp.
When filming ended, Hugh took me
under his wingintroducing me, in and
out of costume, as his deputy for more
than two decades. As his deputy, I joined
him at his Fortune 500 company
appearances as Wyatt. His fee went directly
to HOBY, his foundation, which, in 60
years, has helped more than 450,000
sophomores around the world learn how to
be more conscious in life, and to give back.
Hugh would share how a two-week
stay in Africa cleaning bed pans and
washing sheets in Dr. Albert Schweitzers
leper colony, followed by deep discussions
with the great man in the evenings, had left
him with the challenge of, What are you
going to do with your fame and success to
give back to the world? Its a lesson Hugh
took to heart, and implanted in my heart.
Hugh was laid to rest at Forest Lawn, in
Glendale, California, amidst the family of
his one and only wife, Virginia Stumpf
OBrian. He married his lady at this same
cemetery, 10 years ago, in what was billed
as The Wedding to Die for.
Some of his friends are only a few
plots away: Spencer Tracy, Clayton Moore
(the Masked Man) and Errol Flynn.
A 21-gun salute honored the man who
reportedly held the record as the youngest
drill instructor in the history of his
beloved Marines Corp.
Hugh OBrian will always be a part of
me. Sadly, I am a deputy without his
marshal. Semper Amor, my Friend.
t r u e
24 w e st
Tombstone in Arizona Territory is the
setting for which Wyatt Earp is most
famous, but from 1956 until 1959,
The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp
was actually set in Dodge City, Kansas
Territoryjust like CBSs Gunsmoke.
A nn Kirschner, author of Lady at
the O.K. Corral, came to love the
Tombstone story through watching
OBrian star as the legendary lawman.
Really, could he have been any more
handsome? I fell in love with all things
Earp when I fell in love with Hugh
OBrian, she says. Tall, rangy, the jet
black hair, the square jaw....I know, I still
sound like a kid with a crush. But even as
a kid, I appreciated the balance of the
clean cut hero with that roguish look, the
slight air of naughtiness, and the always
lurking prankster.
It would be decades before I could
assess the similarities and differences
between Stuart Lakes largely fictional
Frontier Marshal, historical Wyatt Earp,
and real-time Hugh OBrian. They all had
that lanky build and athletic grace, but
alas, our Wyatt wasnt always on the right
side of the law.
And while Wyatt cared more about
adventure than accumulating wealth, he
was neither philosopher nor
philanthropist. OBrian understood that
while intelligence and talent are equally
distributed, opportunity is not. And so he
created the Hugh OBrian Youth
Leadership foundation.
B ob Boze Bell met the actor after
taking on the reins as executive
editor for True West Magazine.
Hugh used to call me here at the
magazine about once a week and regale
me with stories about Hollywood, Wyatt
Earp, all the while bending my ear
about doing a story on him. He could be
very persuasive, and I must admit, we
obliged him more than once.
The show was billed as TVs first
adult Western. Asked to define adult
Western, Hugh quipped, The cowboy
still kisses his horsebut worries
about it.
I was one of about 20 people who
were up for the lead role, Hugh
remembered in 2014. Stuart Lake, the
man who wrote Wyatt Earps biography
back in 1929 [published 1931],
interviewed me for the part. I think he
favored me for a couple of different
reasons. First, he felt that there were
certain physical similarities such as
bone structure and height. I also think
he took to me because he had been a
Marine and he felt that my background
as a Marine drill instructor would add to
the character.
His drive to keep his portrayal of
Wyatt Earp true to form is something he
paid for later in life. As he put it, In order
to preserve authenticity, I insisted on
using full loads on the set so that my gun
would fire at the proper volume while
filming. All rifles and pistols in movies and
television use quarter loads, which release
only 25 percent of the volume of full
loads. The crew let me shoot my authentic
guns, and whenever I fired, they wore
earplugs to bear the big explosions. I
couldnt wear earplugs or put cotton in
my ears because I was in front of the
camera, and although Im glad I used full
loads, I am now paying for it because I
lost a lot of my hearing during those years
filming Wyatt Earp.
 From his first role as Wyatt Earp in the ABC series (below)
to his later role, in the 1994 CBS movie Wyatt Earp: Return
to Tombstone (right), Hugh OBrian epitomized the real-
life lawman most known for his participation in the 1881
shoot-out behind Tombstones O.K. Corral.
WYATT EARP: RETURN TO TOMBSTONE PHOTO COURTESY CBS

Who did Hugh OBrian think was the

best Wyatt Earp? When I interviewed him a
couple of years ago, wanting to be tactful, I
asked him who the second-best Earp was.
The second best? I guess it was me. The
best was Wyatt himself. He was a helluva
man. He died here, by the way, in 1929, on
17th Street. He lived here in Los Angeles
the last three or four years of his life. He
made money doing appearances and stuff.
The people just west of Newhall, that huge
area between there and Las Vegas, like 150
miles by 200, they put up one notice at the
upper entrance. It said This Property is
Guarded by Wyatt Earp. Nobody ever
came on it again, he said, with a chuckle.
Hugh was too modest to admit
it, but we all know he was the
best Wyatt Earp; brave,
courageous and bold. Long live
his fame. Long live his glory. And
long may his story be told.

Henry C. Parke is a screenwriter based in

Los Angeles, California, who blogs about
Western movies, TV, radio and print news:
HenrysWesternRoundup.Blogspot.com

Hugh OBrian married his

girlfriend of 18 years, Virginia
Stumpf, on June 25, 2006 (shown
together at left).
COURTESY AUTRY MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN WEST

T R U E
25 W E ST
 Daniel Boone :
Passing the
Torch The backwoodsmans
remarkable hunts out
west foreshadowed the exploits
of our iconic Mountain Men.

By Gary ZaBoly

N
either Meriwether Lewis nor
William Clark ever mentioned
meeting Daniel Boone on May 24,
1804, when they stopped at the
village nicknamed Boones
Settlement, on the north bank of
the Missouri River, some 60 miles from St.
Louis, Missouri. The captains of the
transcontinental expedition talked with the
settlers, procured corn and butter, and then
resumed their voyage. Had they met Daniel,
they almost certainly would have recorded
the momentsymbolizing the passing of
the torch from the old American frontier to
the new.
Although chief administrative officer of the
district, the absent 69-year-old Daniel might
well have been pursuing his favorite pastime:
hunting and trapping. Daniel lived a life full
of daring adventure, exploring dangerous
country that would eventually take him high
up the Missouri River.

t r u e
26 w e st
DANIEL BOONE, PLAINSMAN

Daniel Boone wears a blue capeau coat over his

buckskin coat, based on one seen in the only
legitimate portrait of the frontiersman (p. 28),
painted circa 1820 by Chester Harding. Indian at
lower right is his Shawnee friend from Missouri
who accompanied him on hunting trips.
By GAry ZABOLy

The Ozark Mountains
had become Daniels new
Kentucky wilderness, and
he, his sons and friends
roamed deep into the
forested valleys. Now and
then, the resident Osages
would angrily confiscate the partys beaver
pelts and deerskins, much like the Shawnees
of old Kaintuck did during the 1760s and
1770s. By way of the Cumberland Gap, Daniel
helped blaze a path into Kentucky to found
Boonesborough, one of the first settlements
west of the Appalachian Mountains. In 1799,
he and his family moved to Missouri, which
was part of Spanish Louisiana. By 1808,
Daniel and his fellow trappers had to outride
pursuing Indians, probably Osages, whom
they managed to deter from the chase only
by cutting loose their traps and pelts.
Two years later, after a health crisis
aggravated by increasing rheumatism, Daniel
the firSt Mountain Man
When Meriwether Lewis (right) and
William Clark (far right) set forth from
St. Louis, Missouri, to explore the Old
West wilderness from 1804-1806,
they brought with them John Colter,
who is widely considered to be the first
mountain man. Colter lived out his life
as a neighbor of the frontiersman whose
wilderness adventures predated them
allDaniel Boone.
t r u e
28 w e st
The only legitimate portrait of the
frontiersman, painted circa 1820,
by Chester Harding.
All imAges True WesT Archives unless
oTherWise noTed
welcomed into his home
two old friends from
Kentucky, Michael Stoner
and James Bridges, then
in their mid-50s. They
were bound for the Upper
Missouri River country, a
fur-rich region traversed by only a few daring
adventurers, including John Colter, George
Drouillard, Manuel Lisa and Andrew Henry.
The unpredictable Arikara, Sioux and
Blackfoot tribes made journeys extra
hazardous. But Daniel, even at 75, was not a
man deterred by the perils of Indian country.
In the early fall of 1810, the three greying
backwoodsmenDaniel, Stoner and
Bridgesalong with Flanders Callaway,
Will Hays Jr. and Derry Coburn, a slave of
one of Daniels sons, traveled high up the
Missouri trapping, in the words of Stoners
son. Hays recorded that they got as far as
the Yellowstone River.
Six months after their departure, at least
one of the boats returned with housing over
the cargo, St. Charles resident Stephen
Hempstead recalled, adding that Coburn
was rowing, while Daniel was handling the
rudder. Daniel had probably turned back
about midway, perhaps somewhere in
Nebraska or even South Dakotathe true
beginning of the Great Plainswhile the
healthier, younger Stoner and Bridges
continued on toward Yellowstone.
Scottish naturalist John Bradbury, about
to travel up the Missouri with the Astorian
Expedition, entered in his journal that Daniel
had lately returned from his spring hunt,
with nearly sixty beaver skins. This marked
one of Daniels most bountiful hauls, at a
time when beaver hats were still de rigueur.
During the War of 1812, numerous reports
and rumors swirled about Sauk raids in the
vicinity of Daniels home. Although his
advanced age prevented him from joining
Second
Generation of
Mountain Men
(Bottom, from far right):
Jim Bridger and Jedediah
Smith apprenticed
with Gen. William
Ashleys Upper Missouri
Expedition in 1820; Kit
Carson began his career
as a mountain man under
the leadership of New
Mexico pioneer Ewing
Young in 1829; while
Joseph Walker got his
start under Benjamin
Bonnevilles Wyoming
Expedition in 1832.
 Had Daniel
Boone been a
few decades
younger, his
reputation as
a Mountain
Man might
resonate today
At the age of 81, Daniel Boone, a devoted hunter, traveled out on his last
excursion to the West in a wooden boat that may have been a mackinaw.
This William de la Montagne Cary drawing, of a Mackinaw boat under

alongside other attack, reveals how the boat, divided into four sections by two bulkheads,
was propelled by oarsmen.
COURTESY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Old West icons.

the local mounted rangers, his presence in
the settlement, rifle in hand, was reassuring.
Toward the end of 1815, Daniel, 81, left
home in the company of friends, including
a Shawnee neighbor called Indian Phillips,
who had a reputation as one of the best
hunters in Missouri. Again, Daniel traveled
by water, possibly in a pirogue or in a
mackinaw boat.
In April 1816, he reached Fort Osage, on
the Missouri River 250 miles to the west,
not far from todays Independence, Missouri.
We have been honored by a visit from col.
BOONE, the first settler of Kentucky, wrote
an officer in the fort. ...The colonel cannot
live without being in the woods. He goes a
hunting twice a year to the remotest
wilderness he can reachHe left this [place]
for the river Platt[e], some distance above.
The officer also recorded Boones travel Daniel Boone, who helped blaze the wilderness trail in Kentucky, moved on to Missouri,
then Spanish Louisiana, in 1799. Manuel Lisa left his New Orleans birthplace in Spanish
plans for the fall: I intend...to take two or
Louisiana for Missouri around the same time, gaining fame for opening up the Missouri
three whites and a party of Osage Indians,
River fur trade. His former rival and financial backer Pierre Chouteau Jr. drew the above
and visit the salt mountains, lakes and
sketch of Lisas home in St. Louis. Both Boone and Lisa lived out the rest of their lives in
ponds, and see the natural curiosities of the Missouri and died there in 1820; Lisa made it to the age of 47, while Boone lasted nearly
country along the [Rocky] mountains. The twice as long, dying at age 85.
salt-mountain is but 5 or 600 miles west of COURTESY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

this place.

T R U E
29 W E ST
 The fresh air, the open sky, the scented
woods, his faithful gun, were all that he
asked of the world, Evert A. Duyckinck
wrote of Daniel Boone for the National
Portrait Gallery of Eminent Americans.
In the accompanying illustration, Alonzo
Chappel chose to portray the frontiersman
in his elderly years, hunting in Missouri.
TRUE WEST ARCHIVES

T R U E
30 W E ST
 A statue showing Daniel Boone
restraining a savage from killing a
cowering mother and child, installed in
1851 at our nations Capitol, was meant
to portray ...why and how civilization
crowded the Indian from his soil, the
sculptor Horatio Greenough stated. His
work became popularly expressed in the
below 1874 lithograph.
COURTESY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

Fess Parker graduated from his role as Davy

Crockett, a frontiersman born in 1786 who
perished at the Alamo 50 years later, to
Daniel Boone, an iconic pioneer who, born
in 1734, had his wilderness adventures
published two years before Crockett was
even born. Parkers success as Daniel in the
TV series led to the 1966 theatrical release
of Daniel Boone: Frontier Trail Rider, a
compilation of two episodes from
the series.
COURTESY 20TH CENTURY FOX

Daniel traveled only as far as todays

Atchison, Kansas, on the prairie fringes of
the Great Plains, his son Nathan
remembered, before ill health forced Daniel
to turn back. The aged frontiersmans
remaining hunts were few and short-lived:
he died in 1820, at the age of 85.
History cannot deny that, had Daniel
Boone been a few decades younger, his
reputation as a Mountain Man might Instead of fearing an
resonate today alongside Old West icons encounter with the
Jim Bridger, Jedediah Smith, Joseph Walker Arikaras on the Great
and Kit Carson. Plains during his last
daring adventures,
Gary Zaboly, fascinated with Americas folk heroes, has Daniel Boone should
illustrated Texas history books, including Blood of Noble
Men: The Alamo Siege and Battle and Texian Iliad: A have identified with them as hunters who paid tribute to
Military History of the Texas Revolution, and written an animals spiritual power for sustenance (the above
An Altar for Their Sons: The Alamo and the Texas photo shows Bears Belly draped in bear skin for an Arikara
Revolution in Contemporary Newspaper Accounts.
ceremony). Even more, smallpox had so reduced the size of
the tribe, that, by the time of the Lewis & Clark Expedition,
only a couple out of 32 villages remained on the Missouri.
COURTESY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

T R U E
31 W E ST
 The lasting influence of

Texas
Ranger
Joaquin
Jackson

t r u e
32 w e st

As much as any Texas
Ranger who served in
the last half century,
Joaquin Jackson knew well what fellow
Captain C.J. Havrda meant about being a
part of history. That was surely the case up
until the day Jackson died of cancer on June
15 in Alpine, Texas. He was 80. The lawman
was a part of history from 1966 to 1993,
working thousands of cases across the Lone
Star State.
Jackson might have done as well at
another point in historysay, in the real
Ranger heydays. James L. Haley, who helped
write Jacksons second book, One Ranger
Returns, says, His love of open country,
and horses, the thrills of chase, danger,
adventurehe was aware that all those
would have been heightened in the Old West.
However, he certainly accepted that those
days were over.
But it can be fun, maybe even instructive,
to wonder: what if Jackson had served in
the early 1900s, and legendary Ranger Frank
Hamer had done his Ranger work in the
1960s through the early 90s? Could they
have switched places? The similarities
between the two lawmen are striking.
Both were Texas born and bred,
cowboys who were born to the saddle and
could handle a gunjust about any gun
with deadly accuracy.
Both were big guys who used size, a
booming voice and steely gaze to their
advantageand they had strong tempers.
Both had experience in the Big Bend
and Hill Country regions and did much work
along the Rio Grande.
BY M A R K B O A R D M A N
You feel like
youre a part of
history.
- Senior Capt. C.J. Havrda, Texas Ranger
Both had strong personal honor
codes which included treating people
of all ethnicities and races fairly, having
a compassion for the underdog and
harboring a hatred of corrupt lawmen
and officials.
They dealt with similar issuesrustling,
smuggling, mob actions, border disputes,
voter fraud, robbery,and violent crime.
Each occasionally cut corners to get the
job done. Jackson admitted that he
sometimes bribed Mexican officials
to get a suspect sent back to the
states, pronto. And Hamer, at
times, took a shoot first, ask
questions later approach when
dealing with dangerous perps.
Both adapted well to
changing law enforcement
technologies, including
blood typing, DNA, com-
puters and ballistics.
Both ran afoul of
bureaucracy and politics,
both in the agency and state
government.
Jackson himself never made
that comparison, at least so far
as we know. But he believed
that modern Rangers could have
done the job back then: The
storied Ranger heroes of days
gone by, Leander MacNelly and
John B. Jones and Bill McDonald
and Frank Hamer, still have
their equals today. To
paraphrase Gloria
Swanson in Sunset
Boulevard, it is the times that have gotten
small.
The times, and maybe a bit more. Jackson
remained a Ranger private his entire career
so he could work in the field, not behind a
desk. In Hamers time, captains spent much
of their time out of the office, pursuing cases.
Paperwork and administration werent as
big back then.
Modern policies and procedures have also
had an impact on how todays Rangers
perform their work. Hamer said he was in
52 gunfights in which 23 people were killed
(not all while he was a Ranger, but most).
Jackson was in a handful of shoot-outs
and nobody died (which was fine with
him). Rules on use of force have cut
down on the times a Ranger pulls
a gun and uses it in anger.
Could Joaquin Jackson and
Frank Hamer have lived in each
others shoes and come out
the same heroic Texas Ranger?
Jackson (opposite page) served
on the famous law enforcement
force from 1966-93, while Hamer
(left) served during the heyday of
the Texas Rangers, from 1906-08,
and re-enlisted from 1915-17
and 1921-32.
JACKSON PHOTO BY DAN WINTERS, COURTESY
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS / HAMER PHOTO
COURTESY JOHN BOESSENECKER COLLECTION
T R U E
33 W E ST
 Joaquin Jackson wears
a double belt gun rig,
with buckles a bit more
elaborate than those
featured on the rig Nick
Nolte wore while playing
the Texas Ranger (see
opposite page).
ONE RANGER RETURNS COVER PHOTO BY
MICHAEL IVES / COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF
TEXAS PRESS
Maybe because of that hell-firin
action, the old-time Rangers were in
the public eye more--in newspapers,
magazines, newsreels, dime novels.
They celebrated the daring deeds of
the Rangers, built them up to
superhuman status. By the late 1920s,
Frank Hamer was one of the best
known lawmen in the countryand
that was before he brought down
Bonnie and Clyde.
When Jackson was in his prime,
it was a different story. As an
example, he wrote about a kids
baseball game that he umpired. The
boy at bat asked him what he did
for a living, and Jackson told him he was a
Texas Ranger. The boy then asked him what
position he playeda reference to the Texas
Rangers baseball team.
That took Jackson down a peg or two.
It neednt have. Others, like his friend and
colleague, former Crockett County (TX)
Sheriff Jim Wilson, say Jackson was an
excellent lawman whose only focus was on
doing his job as best he could.
A BROTHERHOOD OF LOSS
Beyond the many traits they shared,
Frank Hamer and Joaquin Jackson had
one other thing in common: loss.
Hamers son, Billy, died during
WWIIs Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945.
Biographer John Boessenecker says
the old lawman was gutted and turned
to the bottle for solace.
Jacksons oldest boy, Don Joaquin,
pleaded guilty in 1991 in connection
with two murders in New Mexico. He
is still in prison. I was never the same
after that, wrote Joaquin Jackson in
his book One Ranger: A Memoir. He
retired less than two years after the
sons trial.
T R U E
34 W E ST
So it was ironic when Jackson became
the cover boy for the February 1994 Texas
Monthly magazine. It made sense in one
waythe tall, lean, craggy/handsome guy
with the hat and boots and chaps, a pistol
on his hip and lever-action rifle in his hand,
just looked like a Ranger. But Jackson had
retired four months earlier. The bureaucracy
and politics, the increasingly pain-in- he-butt
rules, the acceptance of female Rangers who
he considered unqualified, all played a role
in his decision to quit. He was also tired of
getting late-night calls at home, telling him
to put his boots on and get to work.
But with that magazine article, Jackson
suddenly became the face of the force and
got more publicity than in his entire 27-year
Ranger career.
Jackson took it in stride. He wrote two
books, made numerous speeches and public
appearances. He taught Hollywood stars
like Jeff Bridges and Nick Nolte how to look
and act like a Texas Rangerand did some
acting himself. It was a cottage industry that
helped make his retirement years a bit more
comfortable and a heckuva lot more
interesting. It also made Joaquin Jackson
the best known Ranger in the past 40 years
or so. Again, after he turned in his badge.
But Jackson kept things in perspective.
In his books, he gave more credit to his
colleagues than he did to himself. He knew
that hed done his job, done it well and he
took pride in it. I was an active officer in
the oldest and most legendary law
enforcement agency in the United States,
he said. As a Texas Ranger, I have always
understood that I was part of a rich, proud
tradition. Id drain the last drop of blood
from my body to uphold it.
BY KENNETH C. ZIRKEL
45th Texas Gov. Ann Richards
A BLURB FOR A BASTARD
When Joaquin Jacksons first
book, One Ranger: A Memoir, was
ready to come out, his publisher
wanted some big names to write
up quick endorsementsor
blurbsfor it.
Someone suggested former
Texas Gov. Ann Richards, with
whom Jackson had some very
public dust-ups. The old Ranger
doubted shed do it; a mutual friend
approached her with the idea.
Her response?
You tell that old bastard that Ill
give him a blurb for his book, but I
know he rode his horse from
Amarillo, Texas, to Austin, Texas,
to turn in his Ranger badge when I
was governor, and I damn sure
dont appreciate it.
The two Texas icons may not
have liked each other much, but
there was mutual respect.
 By HenRy C. PaRke

Remembering Joaquin Jacksons contributions

to the Western film genre.

Hollywoods
Texas Ranger
Jeff Bridges Texas Ranger character
(far left) was not only similar to Nick
Noltes (left), he was also the same
guy, only 30 years older. As a young
guy, he was full of passion and anger;
as an old man, he is savvy, but his job
is more of an intellectual exercise, and
he is unsure what meaning he will find
outside his life as a Texas Ranger.
Hell or HigH Water photo of Bridges By Lorey seBastian
/ extreme Prejudice photo of noLte courtesy tristar
pictures

The BesT Reel

Texas RangeR
With more than 200 feature films and
television shows to choose from, picking
Hell or High Water is the sleeper movie hit of the summer; Jeff Bridges a favorite portrayal of a Texas Ranger
portrayal of Texas Ranger Marcus Hamilton might nab him a second Oscar. is easier than selecting the best. For
Tellingly, Bridges performance is a matured echo of Nick Noltes acting, nearly 30 years instance, many have played Ranger John
earlier, as Ranger Jack Benteen in 1987s Extreme Prejudice. Both characters share the Reid since the first screen appearance
same steely gaze, the white Resistol hats and dark Western shirts buttoned to the top, the of The Lone Ranger in 1948, but Clayton
stiff-shouldered amble, the raspy back-of-the-throat speech. Not surprising, since both men Moore is the one who sticks.
were coached by legendary Texas Ranger Joaquin Jackson, though decades apart. When considering the more serious Texas
Nolte shadowed Jackson on the job for weeks, absorbing his mannerisms and Ranger films, Denver Pyle is memorable, but
methods. Bridges, who describes Jackson as, My friend and technical advisor, and has he dramatically misrepresents real-life Ranger
called him, One of the greatest Texas Rangers of all time, says Jackson not only taught Frank Hamer in 1967s Bonnie and Clyde,
him how to think like a Ranger, but also how to properly place his star, and gather and while Glen Campbell and Matt Damon are
tuck his uniform shirt. effective Rangers in their respective versions
Between Noltes young lawman with a rage to stop wrongs and Bridges soon-to-retire of True Grit, even though they are not the
widower needing one last triumph before he fades, the two complementary parts stars.
bookend Jacksons screen careerbut they do not entirely encompass it. By far, the best portrayal of Texas
Retiring from the Texas Rangers in 1993, Jackson began coordinating security on Rangers was not on the big screen or small,
Western film sets that included The Good Old Boys. Tommy Lee Jones, writer, director but on the radio. Starting in 1950, Joel
and starand Lonesome Doves retired Texas Ranger Woodrow Callasked Jackson to McCrea starred as Texas Ranger Jayce
play the sheriff in the 1995 film. Jackson followed with roles in 1997s Rough Riders, Pearson in 93 episodes of Tales of the Texas
1999s Streets of Laredo and 2009s Palo Pinto Gold. Rangers, a blend of radios Dragnet and
Jacksons best and final performance was for Lonesome Doves other retired Ranger, Gunsmoke; now in the public domain, the
Gus McCrae, played by Robert Duvall. In 2015s Wild Horses, written, directed and series is available on the Internet.
starring Duvall, Jackson plays, of all things, a retired Texas Ranger named Jackson, one Most other shows that purported to show
who reluctantly gives advice on an investigation. the Rangers in action were uninformed
Duvall remembers him fondly, telling True West, Great guy, Joaquin Jackson. escapist fantasies, but every episode of Tales
of the Texas Rangers was based on real case
Henry C. Parke is a screenwriter based in Los Angeles, California, who blogs about Western movies,
TV, radio and print news: HenrysWesternRoundup.Blogspot.com files, with consultant and legendary Texas
Ranger Manuel Trazazas Lone Wolf
Gonzaullas keeping the show accurate.
t r u e
35 w e st
 By Derek CAtron

A Colonels
seCret
How two women shaped

WeApon
historys view of one of the

worst defeats the U.S. Army

ever suffered at the hands of

American Indians.

A
s the small train of wagons drew
within sight of Fort Phil Kearny, the
weary travelers rejoiced. I could
have clapped my hands for joy, one
wrote of the moment.
On the wind-blown hill overlooking the fort, a
picket guard waved a signal flag to announce
their arrival. He waved a second signal the
newcomers did not understand.
A mounted escort fell in line with the wagons,
halting just outside the eight-foot-high pine trunk
stockade that encircled the fort near present-
day Buffalo, Wyoming. A strange feeling of
apprehension came over the travelers as another
wagon entered the fort ahead of their party. In
that wagon, the travelers saw the scalped and
naked body of a man scarcely cold.
Frances Grummond swallowed back the scream
that filled her head: Let me get within the gate!
In the nearly four months she lived at the fort,
Frances never shed her feeling of apprehension.
The comely Southern belle was 21, married for
little more than a year to one of the officers
newly stationed to the fort. She was three months
pregnant when she arrived and within another
two months, she would be a widow.
Yet her account of what happened 150 years
ago this monthalong with that of her friend
Margaret Carringtonwould foster one of the
great and enduring myths of the American West.

t r u e
36 w e st
Upon hearing the news of the Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapahos
slaughter of U.S. Army troops under the command of Capt. William
J. Fetterman, Frank Leslies Illustrated Newspaper published the
below illustration on January 19, 1867. How history views that
disastrous military defeat was shaped by two women: Margaret
Carrington (far left) and Frances Grummond (left).
IllustratIon Courtesy lIbrary of Congress; CarrIngton photo publIshed In My ArMy Life And
the fort PhiL KeArny MAssAcre by franCes CarrIngton; grummond photo true West arChIves

t r u e
37 w e st
FETTERMAN MASSACRE
Today most know the tragic event as
the Fetterman Massacre. On December
21, 1866, Capt. William J. Fetterman led
a force of 80 men from Fort Phil Kearny
to relieve a wagon train of woodcutters
under attack by Indians.
A coalition of tribes brought together
by Lakota Chief Red Cloud had been
harassing the fort since its construction
that July, killing 73 men during raids.
Civilian workers bore the brunt of the
losses, most of which came one or two at a
time. The Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho
Indians rarely lingered in the face of an
organized military response.
This day was different.
Fetterman led 49 infantrymen, while
Lt. George Washington Grummond
commanded the 30 men on horseback.
Before the relief force could reach the
wood wagons, the Indians broke off their
attack. Rather than return to the fort,
Fetterman circled back over Lodge Trail
Ridge in an apparent attempt to cut off the
Indians retreat.
The Indians had anticipated the
maneuver. Hidden on the other side of
the ridge were as many as 2,000 mounted
warriors. Lured on by a band of 10 decoys,
which may have included a young Crazy
Horse, the soldiers descended into the
valley along the Bozeman Trail that led
to the goldfields around Virginia City,
Montana Territory.
Once the soldiers were far enough into
the valley that retreat would be impossible,
the Indians sprang their ambush. They
killed all 81 men while suffering minimal
losses and mutilated most of the bodies
beyond recognition.
The Fetterman Massacre went down
in history as the worst defeat the U.S.
Army suffered during the Indian Wars at
that time, the climax of what came to be
called Red Clouds War, the only war the
Army lost to the Indians.
FINDING A SCAPEGOAT
George Armstrong Custers so-called
Last Stand 10 years later relegated the
T R U E
38 W E ST
Fetterman fight to a historical footnote, but
in 1866, the killings shocked the country.
Politicians and the Armys hierarchy were
united in their need for a scapegoat.
They found one in the forts commander.
Colonel Henry B. Carrington had never
seen battle, having spent the Civil War as
a recruiter and administrator. A stooped,
thin man with a high forehead and soft,
dark eyes that looked sad even when he
smiled, Henry, then 42, more resembled
the lawyer he had been before the war
than the commander of a frontier post.
When Henry had announced his
intention to wait until winter to take
offensive to the Indians, some of his men
grew impatient. The colonel had reasons
to delay. He understood the tribes would
be weaker in the winter, and he needed
time to train his men, most of whom were
equipped with outdated, muzzle-loading
Springfield rifles. When they had first
arrived at the fort, Carringtons troops had
so little ammunition, they couldnt even
drill with target practice.
Yet the Indians harassment ground
down the mens morale. Behind Henrys
back, his troops questioned his courage.
Their testimony in the investigation that
followed the defeat effectively ended
Henrys military career. He would devote
the last four decades of his life to clearing
his reputation.
In that endeavor, he had a secret
weapon: the two women he loved.
CREATING A MYTH
Margaret Irvin Carrington arrived at
the fort with her husband in July. She
Carringtons
Hand-Drawn Battle Map
After a party of Lakotas, Cheyennes and Arapahos
attacked Fort Phil Kearnys wood wagon train around
11 a.m., Henry B. Carrington ordered William J.
Fetterman to support the wood train and to refrain
from engaging the Indians or pursuing them over
Lodge Trail Ridge, four miles from the fort. History
records Fetterman ignored the order. He led his force
behind Sullivant Hills, perhaps intending to attack
the Indians from the rear. Indian scouts saw the troop
movement and alerted the raiders, who withdrew
from the wood train and went up Lodge Trail Ridge.
After George Grummond and his cavalry met up with
Fetterman and his foot soldiers on the ridge, they
walked straight into a trap. Once the troops reached
Peno Valley, a force of Indians rushed out to greet
them with arrows of death. By the time Capt. Tenodor
Ten Eyck reached the ridge, on Carringtons order to
investigate the gunfire reports, the battle was over.
Every one of Fettermans men was dead.
PUBLISHED IN MY ARMY LIFE AND THE FORT PHIL KEARNY MASSACRE
BY FRANCES CARRINGTON
maintained a journal and proved a gifted
writer and keen observer. Her account
reads like the travelogue of a naturalist
until events conspired to make it an
adventure story.
In her telling, published two years later,
Fetterman disobeyed direct orders from
her husband. Margaret praised Fetterman
as a brave soldier with gentlemanly
manners, but portrayed him as a Greek
tragic hero, his contempt of the enemy
driving him to ruin. She quoted him as
saying a regiment could whip the whole
array of hostile tribes.
The quote would prove key to the
Fetterman myth.
Two years after the publication of
Absaraka: Home of the Crows, Margaret
died from tuberculosis. On hearing of
her death, Frances Grummond wrote
her condolences to Margarets husband,
Henry. Their correspondence led to
courtship and marriage, with Henry
adopting the son George Grummond had
not lived to see.
Frances proved just as able a defender
of her new husbands reputation as was
Margaret. She published her memoir, My
Army Life and the Fort Phil Kearny
Massacre, in 1910. Frances wrote that
she had heard Henry deliver the order
Fetterman was accused of disobeying:
Under no circumstances must you cross
Lodge Trail Ridge.
Both books provided primary source
material that shaped subsequent accounts
written by historians. Henry did his part as
well, proving an eager collaborator with
anyone writing on the subject, until his
death in 1912.
Cyrus Townsend Brady, whose
book, Indian Fights and Fighters, was
published in 1904, introduced a twist on
Fettermans boast, probably with Henrys
input. He clarified the number of men
Fetterman boasted could take down the
Indians, stating Fetterman said he needed
just 80 menthe exact number who died
alongside him. Afterwards, nearly every
account turned Fetterman into a preening
braggart: With eighty men, I could ride
through the entire Sioux nation.
abandoning his first wife and two children
during the war, Grummond courted
Frances without telling her of his past.
He was not yet divorced when he and
Frances wed.
The location of the corpses revealed
Grummonds cavalry was lured deep into
the Indians trap, suggesting Fetterman
may have doomed his infantry only in the
vain hope of rescuing the others.
None of this information found its
way into the womens books. If Frances
held a grudge against her dead, bigamous
husband, she refrained from blackening
his reputation, perhaps out of pity for
their son.
More recent accounts, such as John
H. Monnetts Where a Hundred Soldiers
Were Killed, bring to light the full record.
In her 2008 book, Give Me Eighty Men,
Shannon D. Smith theorizes that, following
publication of Margarets book, none of
Fettermans friends broke the code of
chivalry to refute the story of a well-bred
and respected lady.
The general who headed the
presidential commission that investigated
the tragedy found no reason to blame
any of the men who had risked their
lives at Fort Phil Kearny. Noting that 12
companies of soldiers were stationed at
peaceful Fort Laramie, while only five
companies watched over the besieged
Fort Phil Kearny, Gen. John B. Sanborn
wrote, The difficulty, in a nutshell, was
that [Carrington] was furnished no more
troops or supplies for this state of war
than had been provided and furnished him
for a state of profound peace.
Such a measured conclusion never stood
a chance of taking hold in the popular
imagination against the myth promoted
by the women of Fort Phil Kearny. While
Henrys two wives succeeded in restoring
his reputation for posterity, their efforts
came at a cost to the martyred Fetterman.
Derek Catron is the managing editor of Floridas
Daytona Beach News-Journal and author of Trail Angel,
set along the Bozeman Trail at the outset of Red Clouds
War. Visit DerekCatron.com to read about the sequel,
Angel Falls (Five Star Publishing, November 2017).

FACT OR FICTION?
How fair were these accounts? Later
historians noted that Fettermans war
record contradicted the view of him as an
arrogant officer who placed his command
in mortal danger. A fellow officer described
Fetterman as having great respect for
orders. An enlisted man said Fetterman
was always looking out for and seeing
to the needs of his men.
If one needs a villain for the defeat, war
records provide a better candidate.
Grummond, who led the cavalry that
day, had barely escaped with his life after
riding headlong into an Indian ambush two Colonel Henry B. Carrington (standing, third from left), photographed at the Fetterman
weeks earlier. He had been relieved of his Monument dedication on July 3, 1908, married two ladies who forever changed the
command during the Civil War for similar record on the battle...with an account favorable of their husband, of course. Frances,
recklessness and was court martialed on standing next to Carrington, married the colonel in 1871, after her bigamous husband,
charges of brutality and intoxication. After George Grummond, was killed in the Fetterman fight.
Published in My ArMy Life And the fort PhiL KeArny MAssAcre by Frances carrington

t r u e
39 w e st

Arizonas father of
dude ranching was
one of the West s
greatest early
cowboy balladeers.
r
omaine Romy Lowdermilk, the
Father of Dude Ranching in Arizona,
blossomed into one of the Wests
greatest early balladeers.
Born in Kansas in 1890, he was three
when his father died. By age 15, he was
taking care of a remote windmill and the
cattle water tank on a New Mexico ranch.
His love for wide open spaces brought
him to Arizona, where he hired out as
a cowhand for $30 a month. There, he
taught himself to play guitar and began
learning old-time cowboy songs.
At the age of 21, he homesteaded with his
mother, Katherine, naming their 160 acres
on the banks of the Hassayampa River,
north of Wickenburg, for her: Kay El Bar.
Romy turned his one-man working ranch
into a dude ranch, the first in Arizona.
In his spare time, Romy wrote a weekly
column on humorous cowboy philosophy
for a newspaper in Prescott, as well as
Western tales for pulp magazines. He
strummed his guitar and sang cowboy
songs for locals and visitors. When he
tired of warbling tunes, he whipped out
a lasso and exhibited his rope spinning
skills. For added entertainment, he spun
the rope while walking on a tightwire.
One night in 1922, Romy, with two
friends, performed a song he had
written, Big Corral, at a talent show in
Wickenburg. Meant to be a joke about the
chuckwagon cook, the whimsical tune
came from a gospel song, Press Along to
Glory Land.
T R U E
40 W E ST
BY MARSHALL TRIMBLE
Cowboy songwriters sometimes failed
to copyright their works, as was the case
with Gail Gardner, on Sierry Petes (or,
Tyin Knots in the Devils Tail). Since
Romy did not put his name on Big Corral,
folks thought it was a traditional song.
In 1924, he had a brief fling with
Hollywood when one of his novellas,
Tuckers Top Hand, became a silent
movie. He wryly commented, some 40
years later, The less said about my horse
opera the better.
The year 1924 was also when Romy
became friends with John I. White, a
University of Maryland graduate who was
visiting his brother in Wickenburg. Romy
introduced White to John Lomaxs Cowboy
Songs and Other Frontier Ballads, and
the pals exchanged songs while sitting
around the corral or beneath the shade of
a mesquite tree.
Shown at the WLS National Barn Dance
in Chicago, on June 8, 1935, Romaine
Rory Lowdermilk not only sang
traditional cowboy songs, but also
explained the meaning behind the lyrics.
ALL IMAGES TRUE WEST ARCHIVES UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED
Romy continued to write more than
100 Western songs. One of his most
famous, Back to Old Arizona, is better
remembered as Back to Montana,
recorded by Patsy Montana in 1935.
Patsy liked it, Romy explained, and
wanted to sing it on her road appearances,
so I just called it Back to Old Montana.
She recorded it for Victor, and it was on
the jukeboxes for quite a spell. You can
sing it Back to California, or Oklahoma
or Wyomingor any damn place you want
to go back to.
Romy sold the Kay El Bar in 1927. The
following year, his friend White sang as
the Lonesome Cowboy at the Madison
Square Garden rodeo. Before long, with
the help of radio, White was introducing
the genre to millions of Americans.
Meanwhile, Romy ranched at Soda
Springs, Coyote Basin and Rimrock. In
the late 1920s, he worked a two-year
gig with the Arizona Wranglers at the
Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, during which
he performed Back to Old Arizona. The
Wranglers headed to Los Angeles and, in
1931, recorded Romys song.
During the mid-1930s, Romy performed
on the popular WLS National Barn Dance
in Chicago. He not only sang the songs,
but also, in the tradition of folk music,
explained their meaning. For instance,
Gail Gardner once explained how singing
cowboys bitched up the lingo in his
Sierry Petes. Singing cowboys of the
1920s did not know the meaning of seago

from the line: Now one fine day ol
Sandy Bob, he throwed his seago down,
said, Im sick of the smell of this burnin
hair and I allows Im a goin to town.
A seago is short for a seagoing rope,
but the ignorant singing cowboys substi-
tuted words unrelated to ropes. Gardner
described em as, They didnt k n o w
which end a cow gets up first!
In the early 1940s, Romy bought
the Howard Ranch in Cave Creek
and renamed it Rancho Manana.
Today, the Tonto Bar and Grill is
located on the ranch site.
While the songs Romy per-
formed brought him a little
money and fame, he never
made a dime off of Big
Corral. Even his friend,
White, failed to credit him
as the writer in Whites 1929 folio of
traditional cowboy songs. Romy had to
wait until a 1967 article published by The
Arizona Republic before he was recog-
nized as the author. Nearly a century later,
the song remains a staple for Western
singing groups.
Musicologist Charles Haywood listed
Big Corral as one of only five authentic
cowboy folk songs in the 1951 edition of A
Bibliography of North American Folklore
and Folksong. The other four were Home
on the Range, Big Rock Candy Mountain,
Goodbye Old Paint and Echo Canyon.
A humble man, Romy claimed he
never made any commercial recordings,
published in Whites 1975 anthology,
Git Along Little Dogies: Songs and
Songmakers of the American West. Romy
had already met his maker by then, having
died in Phoenix in June 1970 at the ripe-
old age of 80.
In the 1990s, that windy unfurled.
Stephanie Hall worked at the American
Folklore Center at the Library of Congress.
When she told the director, Alan Jabbour,
that her brother knew a man in Austin,
Texas, who owned a recording by Romy
During the storied career of the Phoenix-based Arizona Wranglers,
shown above, the cowboy crooners featured some B-movie
Rory claimed, in his
pals book (left), that he
never made commercial
recordings, but uncovered
songs from his Ramsey
sessions are featured on a
CD (below) sent free with
new subscriptions to True
West Magazine.
Lowdermilk, the director exclaimed,
Romy Lowdermilk! Whos got a record
by Lowdermilk?
Sometimes thats the way treasures
are discovered. The American Folklore
Center wound up owning the 33 rpm
acetate disc featuring 13 of Romys songs.
For years, the center believed it was a
one-of-a-kind disc.
Then came Clay Thompsons November
2006 column for The Arizona Republic.
Norm Johnson had written in to find out
more information about
an LP by Romy. When
researcher Stephen Winick
read the article, he got in
touch with Johnson and
found out his disc was
identical to the one at the
center. Romy had recorded
both at Ramseys Recording
Studio, in Phoenix, which
became Audio Recording Studio in 1957.
During Winicks search for Romys
music, the Arizona Music and Entertainment
Hall of Fame put the researcher in touch
performers in their acts, including
Glenn Strange, a cousin to Rex Allen
and an actor known for playing
bartender Sam Noonan on the CBS
series Gunsmoke.
with Arizona music historian John P.
Dixon. Romy had performed in at least
two recording sessions, in 1951 and
1955, Dixon recalled, one with 13 songs
and the other, 10.
Each session contained two versions
of several songs, including songs
never cut to an acetate. Dixon believes
Ramsey made a master tape of the songs
that Romy wanted his fans to hear,
and those were the songs recorded on
acetates, which Ramsey cut on a lathe
in real time according to customer orders.
Released for the first time ever, the
True West exclusive CD features 18 Romy
songs from both of his Ramsey sessions
and will be given away with new True
West subscriptions this holiday.
I was just born early enough to get
acquainted with some of the cowboys who
had worked the ranges through the 70s
and 80s, to see occasional longhorns on
open range, Romy wrote in a 1967 letter
to White that summed up the cowboy
balladeers career.
I saw big roundups and drives; saw the
old backyard cow re-union commercialized
into the modern rodeo; saw bands of wild
horses on mountain and plain and the
gradual change from the genuine Spanish
mustang through the bronco era to fine
quarter-horses.
Have seen altered brands, horse
thieves, blackleg, ticks, pink-eye, screw
worms, bad men in high
places and good men on the
dodge, stampedes, range
arguments, water troubles,
storms, droughts, lots of
bright sunshine and fair
weather. Everythings lovely
and nothin is wrong.
And Im just lazy-like,
lopin along.
Marshall Trimble, Arizonas official historian and vice
president of the Wild West History Association, writes
True Wests column Ask the Marshall. His latest book is
Arizonas Outlaws and Lawmen (History Press, 2015).
T R U E
41 W E ST
 march 11, 1884

F
resh off the train from
Austin, Texas, newly minted
drinking pards Ben
Thompson and John King
Fisher, the acting sheriff for
Uvalde County, take in the sights and
sounds of San Antonio.

Forewarned The dynamic drinking duo makes a

first stop at Turner Hall Opera House,
to take in a performance of Lady

& Forearmed Audleys Secret, starring Ada Gray.

After the play, the two visit several
saloons before a hack drops them off
in front of the Vaudeville Theatre as 10
p.m. approaches. They stand outside
Ben Thompson visiting, for about a half hour before
they enter the Vaudeville.
& King Fisher Both men stop at the bar for a drink
as co-owner Billy Simms (or Sims) and
vs special policeman Jacob Coy stroll over
to greet them. The four proceed
Joe FosTer upstairs to watch the show. After they On this Wednesday night at the

& Billy simms take their seats in the dress circle,

Death waits behind the curtain.
IllustratIons by bob boze bell
By BoB Boze Bell
Maps & Graphics by Gus Walker
Based on the research of Richard Selcer and Tom Bicknell
Thompson calls for another drink and
Fisher orders a cigar.
Thompson starts making rude
comments about his killing of Jack
Harris, an event now two years old.
But the tension rises when saloon
co-owner Joe Foster joins the group.
Thompson calls Foster a thief and
Drinking heavily most of the day, Ben
Thompson strikes a porter on the train.
When blood splatters on his silk hat,
Thompson cuts away the crown and
sticks a knife in the brim. Wearing his
new, bizarre headgear, he steps off the
train with John King Fisher to take in
the sights of San Antonio, Texas. Ben
buys a new hat before he arrives at the
Vaudeville Theatre.
Vaudeville, the usual fare takes the stage
when Ben Thompson and John King Fisher
sit in the dress circle.
identifies him as the real target of his
earlier shooting: That is the son of a
bitch I wanted to kill.
To calm down his buddy, Fisher
suggests everyone go downstairs to the
bar, and all agree. Before he leaves his
seat, Thompson offers to shake Fosters
hand, but the saloon proprietor refuses.
Thompson reacts by pulling a pistol
and pistol whipping Foster about the
mouth (one version has him putting the
barrel in Fosters mouth). Seeing this,
Coy tries to grab the barrel of
Thompsons pistol as a shot rings out.
All hell breaks loose as everyone
reaches for their hardware and a
thunderous volley of shots (some say
20) rips through the theatre. Fisher and
Thompson are fatally hit multiple times,
and Foster takes a bullet in the leg. As
blood and gore welter in the doorway
and on the stairs leading to the street,
friends help Foster, whose leg is bleeding
badly, go down the stairs to safety.
This is the official San Antonio
version of the fight. An autopsy,
performed in Austin on Thompson, will
hint at a darker version of events.

t r u e
42 w e st
1. Fisher and Thompson 2. Around 8 p.m., the 3. Fisher and Thompson stroll Commerce Street,
board the train to San Antonio train arrives at the eventually going into the Turner Hall Opera House
when it slows at the river International & Great on the corner of Houston and St. Marys Streets.
crossing. Thompson intends Northern depot.
to get off where the up and
down trains meet but decides
to continue to San Antonio.

4. Leaving the opera house, they

stop at Gallaghers Saloon, then
catch a hack to the Vaudeville
Theatre where they are fatally shot.

Partners Jack Harris, Joe

Foster and Billy Simms
opened the Vaudeville
Theatre in 1872.
True WesT Archives

Upstairs Floorplan of
the Vaudeville Theatre
PLAY LOFT

CURTAIN
STAGE
BELOW

THEATER AY
HALLWAY

BOX BELOW BOX HALLW

SEATS SEATS

DRESS CIRCLE

STAIRS

Billy Simms King Fisher Jack Harris CLUB

ROOM BALCONY

CLUB MONTE

Deadliest Gunfighters Dealt a Deadly Hand

SOLEDAD STREET

ROOM
STAIRS

LOBBY
CLUB GAMBLING
BELOW
ROOM

In 1884, Ben Thompson and John King Fisher are two

FARO

of the deadliest gunfighters on the loose in Texas, with GAMBLING

GAMBLING
one caveat: John Wesley Hardin is in prison at this time.
Both Thompson and Fisher have led charmed lives...until SIDEWALK

10 feet
the two meet in Austin and travel together to San Antonio. MAIN PLAZA

Wearing a hat, sans crown, with a knife stuck in it, Where Thompson and Fisher
are standing when shot.
Thompson must have looked quite bizarre, but not half as Location of Thompson and Fishers bodies.
macabre as he and Fisher look just outside the dress circle Location of the shooters.
of the upstairs balcony at the Vaudeville Theatrewhen Sources: Legendary Watering Holes: The Saloons
Ben Thompson death strikes them both. that Made Texas Famous and Tom Bicknell.
 Texas Time Line: What Goes Around, Comes Around
Ben Thompson and King Fisher share a charmed liFe, righT up unTil The momenT They meeT.
Of the two shootists, the English-
born Thompson gets the jump, having
participated in three shooting scrapes
by his 18th birthday. After a stint in
the Confederate cavalry during the Civil
War, Thompson is jailed, escapes, flees
to Mexico and serves in Maximilians
army, rising to the rank of major.
Back in the United States, Ben
Thompson joins forces with Phil Coe
and Tom Bowles in a saloon-gambling
operation in Austin, Texas.
Both men begin their final arc by
serving time in prison:
1868
After a dust-up with his brother-in-law,
Thompson begins serving two years of a
four-year sentence in prison in Huntsville,
Texas. He is released in 1870.
October 1870
Sentenced to two years in a Huntsville
prison for housebreaking, John King
Fisher serves four months before he is
given a pardon.
October 5, 1871
James Butler Wild Bill Hickok kills
Thompsons business partner Phil Coe
in front of the Alamo Saloon in Abilene,
Kansas. After a buggy accident injures
his wife, Thompson and his family return
to Austin, Texas.
June 4, 1876
Texas Rangers capture Fisher and
nine of his gang, but the prisoners are
released due to lack of evidence.
December 25, 1876
In Austin, Thompson fatally shoots
theatre owner Mark Wilson and wounds
bartender Charles Mathews. He is
arrested, but ultimately acquitted.
May 16, 1877
Texas Rangers arrest Fisher on
charges of murder and horse stealing.
November 19, 1877
While Fisher is imprisoned in the Bat
Cave jail in San Antonio, saloon owner
Joe Foster sends Fisher daily restaurant
meals, at Fosters expense. Fisher serves
five months until he is released when
prominent ranchers post his $25,000 bond.
t r u e
44 w e st
May 13, 1878
Fisher has 15 indictments pending
against him, but the indictments
mysteriously turn up missing. Fisher
makes bond in six of the cases, with help
from the same seven ranchers.
1879
In Colorado, Thompson enlists on
the side of the Santa Fe Railway in its
bloodless war with the Denver & Rio
Grande, earning a $5,000 fee.
December 1880
Back in Texas, Thompson is elected
city marshal of Austin. Crime is reported
at an all-time low, and he is re-elected
to the post in 1881.
April 21, 1881
Fisher is found not guilty on charges
of murdering two Mexicans, and, in May,
he is acquitted or dismissed on all other
charges brought against him. Fisher
makes a vow that he will never again be
charged with an offense.
July 11, 1882
While on a bender, Thompson fatally
shoots Jack Harris, an owner of the
Vaudeville Theatre in San Antonio. He is
acquitted of the crime, but consequently
resigns his post as city marshal.
Early 1883
At the request of Sheriff J.B. Boatright,
Fisher becomes a deputy sheriff of
Uvalde County. In October, when an
indictment is returned against the sheriff,
Fisher becomes acting sheriff.
March 10, 1884
Fisher travels by rail to the Texas
capital to learn more about a new state
statute that makes fence cutting a felony.
There, he meets Thompson for the first
time, and the two hit it off. When Fisher
leaves town, to take the train back to
Uvalde via San Antonio, Thompson
decides to join him.
Death waits behind a curtain. An autopsy
will shatter the coroners conclusions, and
the presence of Winchester rifles will point
directly to hidden assassins in the box seats.
Unanswered Questions
Did Thompson and Fisher meet in Austin by choice or by plan?
John King Fisher went to Austin, Texas, on business. While in the capital, he met Aftermath: Odds & Ends
up with the notorious Ben Thompson. Some writers have made the accusation that
the two met by plan. Best Historical Guess: The two met by pure chance and had a News of the shooting spread fast.
lot in commonincluding hard drinking. What started out as a lark, ended in tragedy. Before the theatre was fairly cleared of
its occupants, 1,500 people clamored at
Did Fisher lure Thompson into a trap? the closed doors of the building for
Since Fisher and Joe Foster were close friends, some have speculated that Fisher may admittance, Galvestons The Daily News
have lured Thompson to the Vaudeville to be murdered. But if true, why would Fisher reported. The next day, the San Antonio
be so close to Thompson when the shooting began? Best Historical Guess: Fisher Express stated that 3,000 more gathered
mistakenly thought he could patch up differences between Foster and Thompsonand that morning to get a sight at the bodies.
underestimated Thompsons ability to cause trouble. It cost him his life.

Was Thompson assassinated?

The physician attending to Joe Foster
The coroners report stated that Thompson and Fisher were killed in a fight with
felt save his leg was impossible, so he
Foster and Simms. But Thompsons autopsy revealed that the shooters were above and
amputated the leg a short distance above
to the left of the victimsnot right in front of them.
the knee. Eleven days after the fight, on
Best Historical Guess: Two eyewitnesses to the fight, Alex T. Raymond and John
March 22, a doctor probing Fosters
R. Sublett, claimed Simms and Foster approached Thompson and Fisher while they
wound hit an artery and Foster bled to
were still seated. Thompson extended his hand, but Foster refused to shake it. Fisher
death. Fosters body was buried behind
told Foster to shake hands with Thompson like gentlemen. When Foster refused a
Jack Harriss grave in the city cemetery.
second time, Simms and Coy quickly stepped aside. Thompson and Fisher sprang from
their seats as a fatal volley tore into them. Two of the fastest gunmen in the West never
had a chance to pull their revolvers. Coy, with Thompsons pistol, and Simms, with his
own, then fired additional shots into the dying men. Foster tried to draw his weapon
Billy Thompson, who was in San
and shot himself in the leg. Thompsons autopsy confirmed that a volley of bullets
Antonio the night of the shooting, claimed
struck him.
his brother Bens body to take home to
Historian Tom Bicknell believes, once Thompson insisted on speaking to Foster, he
Austin via train. An autopsy performed
sealed his doom. Bicknell also concludes, Maybe if Ben hadnt pushed for a meeting
in Austin revealed that Thompson had
with Foster, he may have gotten out of the Vaudeville alive. The shooters must have
been shot by eight bullets, five of them
been ready to react to a given signal, and I believe this would have been when Simms
to the head. But the shocker was that
and Coy moved quickly out of the way. Joe Foster was careful to be out of the line of
some of the bullets removed from the
fire. I doubt any argument had time to develop.
body were Winchester rifle caliber. By
the angle of trajectory, these bullets
apparently had come from above and to
the left, from the box seat area to the left
of the dress circle. The evidence also
suggested that the two victims were shot
multiple times in the face after they were
already down and helpless.

King Fishers body was shipped home

to Uvalde, Texas, and buried. No autopsy
was performed.

Recommended: Legendary Watering

Holes: The Saloons that Made Texas
Quick on the Draw Famous edited by Richard Selcer,
published by Texas A&M University Press.
Nitpickers and proponents of the Fast Draw is a Myth crowd take note
[Fishers] pistol was found belted around him, undischarged, and in his
scabbarda remarkable circumstance for one so quick in drawing and so self-
possessed when in danger.
The Daily News (Galveston, texas), March 12, 1884
U N S U NG
BY D E N N I S P E T E R S O N

LITTLE KNOWN CHARACTERS OF THE OLD WEST

Emperor of
the United States
Joshua Abraham Norton turned his lost fortune into an imperial legacy.

Joshua Abraham Norton (left) never settled for defeat. When the
world kicked him down, he got back up again. He fascinated writers,
including Mark Twain, who, in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
modeled his royal imposter, the King, on Norton.
TRUE WEST ARCHIVES

This plaque commemorating Emperor Norton I, hidden away

in storage, notes Nortons decree for a bridge over San Francisco
Bay. Residents are hoping to convince the legislature to add
Emperor Norton to the name of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay
Bridge by 2018, the 200th anniversary of Nortons birth.
COURTESY NAGLE AT EN.WIKIPEDIA

bankruptcyand including ones abolishing Congress, firing

then suddenly, he U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and
disappeared. Confederate States President Jefferson
Nine months later, Davis, and ordering construction of a bridge
a disheveled stranger between Oakland and San Francisco.
appeared in San Newspapers printed his pronouncements.

I
n 1849, Joshua Abraham Norton,
born in England around 1818,
arrived in San Francisco,
California, from South Africa with
a $30,000 inheritance and dreams of business
successes. Those dreams came true.
He developed not one but many successful
venturesa retail store selling gold-mining
supplies, a cigar factory, a rice mill and real
estate. By 1855, his fortune was estimated
at more than a quarter of a million dollars.
But then came one disaster after another,
and he stood to lose it all. He spent three
years and most of his money trying to save
his fortune. A hard-nosed banker named
William T. Sherman, who would command
greater fame during the Civil War, foreclosed
the mortgages on Nortons real estate
holdings. A depression hit. His commodities
inventories rotted. He failed in the stock
market. He lost his friends among San
Franciscos elite. In 1858, he declared
Francisco. He wore a
rumpled U.S. Army uniform, but carried
himself with a royal demeanor. In 1859, he
presented the San Francisco Bulletin editor
the following notice, which he respectfully
requested be placed in the next edition:
At the peremptory request of a large
majority of the citizens of these United
States, I, Joshua Norton, formerly of Algoa
Bay, Cape of Good Hope, and now for the
past nine years and ten months of San
Francisco, California, declare and proclaim
myself Emperor of these U.S.
Norton I, Emperor of the United States
The editor ran the notice, thinking that
it might increase newspaper sales. For the
next 21 years, Norton I ruled as emperor,
and the people of San Francisco received
him as such, addressing him as Your
Majesty. Businessmen gave him free meals
and a special seat at public events. The
California legislature always reserved a seat
for him. He issued various proclamations,
He even issued his own imperial currency.
He conferred on loyal businesses the
endorsement, By appointment of Norton
I, Suppliers for His Royal Majesty.
On the evening of January 8, 1880, Norton
I collapsed dead at the intersection of
California Street and Dupont. Ten thousand
mourners attended his funeral. The
newspaper ran a banner headline: Le Roi
Est Mort (The King is Dead).
But Emperor Norton I lives on. Mark
Twain and Robert Louis Stevenson wrote
him into their novels, a plaque in San
Francisco honors his prognostication of
the bridge linking that city to Oakland. He
was beloved in his day and is a tourist
curiosity in ours. The King is dead. Long
live the King.
Dennis Peterson is the author of Confederate Cabinet
Departments and Secretaries. He lives in Taylors,
South Carolina, and previously wrote American history
textbooks for BJU Press and served as a senior technical
editor at Lockheed Martin.

T R U E
46 W E ST
Robert Louis Stevenson
made Emperor Norton
(shown) a character in his
1892 novel, The Wrecker.
His stepdaughter, Isobel
Osbourne, remembered
Norton in her autobiography
as a gentle and kindly man
who fortunately found
himself in the friendliest and
most sentimental city in the
world, the idea being let
him be Emperor if he wants
to. San Francisco played the
game with him.
COURTESY BANCROFT LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY-POR 1
S u rv i vA l O u T W e ST
BY T e r rY A . D e l B e n e

A Babe on the
Battlefield
How a tenacious mother saved her daughter during one of the deadliest massacres in U.S. history.

T
he horrified woman ran with
all her heart through chaotic,
thunderous reports of
carbines, rifles and pistols
that were dwarfed only by the din created
by Hotchkiss guns. Determined to outrun
the icy fingers of cruel fate and take her
infant daughter to safety, the woman gulped
in frigid air and ran an eighth of a mile before
she heard the close approach of a man on
a horse. He was one of the soldiers!
The desperate mother held her infant high
and begged for her childs life. Showing no
mercy, the soldier fired two shots into the
womans chest. She crumpled to the ground,
holding on to her infant as her lifeblood
Frederic Remington was traveling with Lt. Edward E. Casey and did not find out about the
soaked into the snow.
Wounded Knee attack until New Years Day. He drew the above, Opening of the Fight at
Death was a whirlwind, scything through Wounded Knee, from a description told to him by Lt. James D. Mann, who declared the
Big Foots camp at Wounded Knee Creek Ghost Dancers had fired the first shot. The Lakotas claimed that the cavalry had fired first.
on December 29, 1890. Considered by many Published in Harpers Weekly, January 24, 1891

to be the last battle of the Indian Wars, the

fight began as the U.S. Army attempted to
disarm the Ghost Dancers; the police
assassination of Sitting Bull had fanned
distrust among the Lakotas. At Wounded
Knee, an accidental gunshot set off a torrent
of confused firing. Soldiers killed, with little
consideration given to age or gender.
On the first day of the new year, burial
parties began the grim work of burying the
hundreds of bodies. A blizzard had covered
the roughly 200-acre site with a fresh blanket
of snow. Among five dead Lakota women
huddled against a cut bank, George E.
Bartlett found one frozen corpse holding a
still living infant. The mother used her body
to shield her baby from freezing. Bartlett
had difficulty removing the frostbitten baby
from the dead mothers icy embrace.
Taken to Pine Ridge Agency to recover,
the baby came to the attention of Gen. Just like Zintkala Nunis mother, these corpses were frozen stiff in traumatic positions,
Leonard Wright Colby, a hero of the Civil as captured in this photograph of U.S. Army soldiers burying the Lakotas
War siege of Mobile and a future U.S. assistant killed during Wounded Knee in a mass grave.
Courtesy library of Congress

t r u e
48 w e st
 This issue marks the final installment
of this series. It has been a pleasure
and an honor to work with True West
Magazine and its superb editorial
staff. Most of all, I want to thank all
of the loyal fans for their support and
encouragement of our efforts. Youve
made it all worthwhile.

Terry A. Del Bene

Colbys wife, Clara, an influential

suffragette, raised Nuni. Nuni led a difficult
life. Colby took advantage of his adopted
daughter to raise significant sums of money,
yet he barely spent time with her. Claras
political activities left Nuni bouncing
between family members, nannies, boarding
schools and institutions. In time, the
general abandoned the two for a young
mistress, leaving them in desperate
financial condition.
Nuni tried to return to her people, only
to discover she did not fit comfortably in
either the culture of her origin or her
adopted one. To the Lakotas, the piano-
playing, scandalously-clad, English-speaking
woman was white. To the whites, her
appearance and personality set her apart as
an Indian.
General Leonard Wright Colby holds Zintkala Nuni (Little Lost Bird, also shown in inset), She visited Wounded Knee whenever her
the baby girl found on the Wounded Knee battlefield and adopted into his family. travels brought her nearby and attempted
To stem the alarming tide of agencies finding homes for American Indian children, to find her blood relatives. The beautiful
without involvement of their tribes or families, the federal government passed woman was married several times to non-
the Indian Child Welfare Act nearly 90 years later, in 1978.
Indians, with her first husband giving her a
Courtesy smithsonian institution
wedding present of syphilis. This disease
attorney general. Colbys Nebraska troops swallowed poison used in a murder to prove eventually cost her the sight of one eye.
had not been engaged at Wounded Knee, yet a clients innocence. But he dared not cross Children were born, died and even given up
the general recognized an opportunity to Miles. He sent Lt. Edward E. Casey to to others.
emulate his hero, Andrew Jackson, who, in reclaim the baby. But when Casey died from As a piano player, she worked in Wild
1813, adopted Lyncoya, a a shot to the head by a West shows, including Buffalo Bills Wild
boy found on a battlefield
near his mothers corpse.
She held on to well-aimed Winchester
during the attempt, Colby
West, run by her fathers former aide-de-
camp. In 1920, after brief careers in
Colby and his aide-de-
camp, William F. Buffalo
her infant as her took on the mission.
On January 14, in the
vaudeville and in silent movies, she
volunteered to nurse the sick during an
Bill Cody, bartered with
the foster family for the
lifeblood soaked guise of a half-blood
Indian, he joined Ghost
influenza epidemic. With her constitution
already weakened by syphilis, she contracted
Indian relic, agreeing to
a price on January 6.
into the snow. Dancers heading to a
meeting with Gen. Miles.
the flu and died on Valentines Day.
Originally buried in California, her
A woman disapproving of this deal, The honey-tongued Colby, speaking through remains rejoined those of her Lakota
however, removed the child to a nearby Indian an interpreter, spun a tale of needing the mother, who died trying to save her a
encampment, supposedly Red Clouds. Until child because his wife was barren. He nearly century before. With her internment at
the terms of surrender concluded, troops had overplayed his hand. When he reached out Wounded Knee in South Dakota in 1991,
been forbidden by Gen. Nelson Miles from for the infant, a woman exclaimed, Zintkala Nuni was home at last.
going to such encampments. Nuni, which translates to Lost Bird. But
Terry A. Del Bene is a former Bureau of Land
Colby was a risk taker. He once convinced Colby got the baby, and the baby now had Management archaeologist and the author of Donner
a lynch mob to let him live and reportedly a name: Zintkala Nuni. Party Cookbook and the novel Dem Bonz.

t r u e
49 w e st
R e N e ga d e Roa d s
BY J o h n n Y D. B o g g s
North to Montana
Nelson Storys epic cattle drive 150 years ago is the perfect road trip from Texas to Montana in 2016.
Nelson Storys epic cattle drive from
Texas to Montana from the spring to the
winter of 1866 crossed over the Big Horn
Mountains from Wyoming into Montana,
an enormous feat accomplished in the
midst of Red Clouds War along the
Bozeman Trail.
CourtEsy Visit southEast Montana
t r u e
50 w e st
e
ver wondered what kind of man
would risk making a cattle drive
from Texas to Montana and not
even reach Virginia City until
December? Turns out John B. Catlin
answered that question back in 1912.
Even after three years on the skirmish
line in the Civil War, I had never seen a
fighting man like Nelson Story, wrote
interviewer Arthur L. Stone. He hunted a
fight and when he found it he knew how to
handle it. He never carried a rifle, but there
were always two big navy revolvers on his
hips. He was always splendidly mounted
and would ride like the wind. He would say,
Come on boys, and ride away. Of course,
wed follow himwed have followed him
to hell.
So come on, boys and girls, lets follow
Nelson Story.
Eastern Born, Western Bound
Born in 1838 in Meigs County, Ohio,
Story headed west in the late 1850s and by

1863 was in Montana,
where his wife, Ellen,
sold pies for $5 in gold
dust. During his life he
would be a school-
teacher, freight driver,
miner, merchant, vigi-
lante and the richest man
in Bozeman. But he NELSON STORY
earned his place in
history by leading one of the most remark-
able cattle drives in Western history.
In 1866, Story arrived in Fort Worth,
Texas. Or was it Dallas? Anyway, he had
roughly $10,000 in greenbacks sewn into
his coat. Or was it more? Whatever city and
whatever the cash, he bought a herd of
Texas that numbered 3,000. Or was it 1,000?
It could have been only 600.
Thats one of the problems with sorting
out the facts about this cattle drive. Theres
really no definitive history. We dont even
know for sure the actual route Story took
to Montana, and the Bozeman Trail has
been described more as a general direc-
tion than an actual trail.
Livingston
Bozeman Billings
Virginia City
Ft. Smith Banner/
Ft. Fetterman
Buffalo
N Kaycee X Ft. Reno Marker
W E
TRUE WEST ARCHIVES
Of course, wed follow him
wed have followed him to hell.
You certainly wont find any Montana. He wanted to turn a meaty profit
agreement between Dallas and by driving a herd to Kansas City, Missouri.
Fort Worthon anything. Fort Or maybe he just wanted an excuse to chow
Worth is more cowtown and down on K.C. barbecue.
more Western (Sid Richardson Likely, the Story crew started out along
Museum, National Cowgirl the Shawnee Trail, crossing the Red River
Museum and Hall of Fame). into present-day Oklahoma. That would have
You can see cowboys drive longhorns at the taken Story to Fort Gibson, where the
historic stockyards, although they dont go reconstructed 1824 fort and several original
anywhere near the distance Story and his buildings are worth seeing.
men and beef covered. Dallas is more Perhaps Story followed the Neosho River
cosmopolitan, more J.R. Ewing and JFK. to Kansas, where some say they went
There are cowboys and longhorns, but those through Baxter Springs. But wouldnt they
are bronzes at Pioneer Plaza. That said, you have sold their herd there? More likely, if
cant knock a city that claims it invented the theyd stuck to the Neosho they would have
frozen margarita in 1971even if I prefer reached Humboldt, a picturesque town
mine on the rocks. founded in 1857 where today visitors should
take the self-guided Civil War tour, check
Across the Red River out the circa-1907 two-level bandstand and
In any event, around April, Story pointed visit the Humboldt Historical Museum.
his cattle north. If youve read enough Kansas histories,
At first, if you believe the legend, Story you know that Kansans disliked Texas cattle
wasnt thinking about feeding miners in herds because of tick fever. Thats likely
why Story turned the herd west and why he
was arrested in June in Greenwood County,
taken to Eureka (Greenwood County
Museum) and fined $75. That also might
have soured Story on the idea of selling his
beef in Kansas City.
After all, if a pie cost $5 in Montana gold
camps, what would a Texas longhorn
Ft. Laramie

S North Platte
Julesburg
Kearney
Ogallala HISTORICAL M
Topeka
ARKER
Leavenworth A Versatile Travel Co
0 50 100
Travel along the Bo
rridor
Scale in Miles Ft. Riley carrying their suppli
zeman Trail began in
1863 as miners
es on packhorses or
toward the gold field in wagons, headed
Eureka s... The first cattle
Humbolt trail in 1866, when Ne
lson Storys herders
herd followed the
animals from Texas drove a thousand
Miami traffic on the trail
to Virginia City. By
1867, civilian
had fallen off. Ind
having an effect, an ian opposition was
d travel was limite
Ft. Gibson and military suppli
es. The trail was clo
d to mail patrols
the Fort Laramie Tre sed as a result of
aty of 1868, only to reo
Area of Detail use during the 187 pen for military
6 campaigns.

map by Ft. Worth Dallas

T R U E
51 W E ST
 Robert Summers 70-piece Cattle Drive bronze sculpture at Pioneer Plaza in
Dallas, Texas, commemorates and honors the history and the heritage of the
cattle drives that went north from the Lone Star state on the Shawnee Trail.
COURTESY CAROL M. HIGHSMITH, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

fetch? Forget K.C. barbecue. Story

had decreed: Montana or Bust.
They crossed the Kansas River on
a pontoon bridge at Topeka (Kansas
Museum of History, Great Overland
Station) and went to Leavenworth.
Letting the cattle graze, Story took
several men into Leavenworth to
celebrate Independence Day. Today,
Western history buffs celebrate
Leavenworth, where history lives.
Take the citys wayside tour, visit
In 1866, the same year Nelson Story went the First City Museum and dont
north with his longhorns, Congress authorized forget to see Fort Leavenworth. Yes,
the formation of Black infantry and cavalry securitys strictbut I still got inand
regiments, honored today at Fort Leavenworth the Frontier Army Museum is fantastic.
by its Buffalo Soldier Monument.
Story knew about the Indian conflict
JOHNNY D. BOGGS
on the Bozeman Trail, so he outfitted
his men with 30 breech-loading

Jesse James Birthplace

21216 Jesse James Farm Road
Kearney, Missouri 64060
816-736-8500
jessejamesmuseum.org

T R U E
52 W E ST
 Since trail boss
Nelson Story knew his
cowboys might have to fight
their way across the Bozeman Trail,
he outfitted his men with 30
Remington Type I Split Breech
Carbines when the trail drive
passed through Fort Leavenworth.
COURTESY ROCK ISLAND AUCTION COMPANY

For 96 years every July, Oregon

Remington rifles. He also bought 15 freight
wagons, which he filled with groceries and
merchandise to sell in Montana, and 150 head
of oxen. They left for Montana on July 10.
Westward they went, along the Kansas
out the U.S. Cavalry Museum), then likely
turned north and followed the Big and Little
Blue rivers into Nebraska. After that it was
a simple drive of cattle, oxen and wagons
along the Oregon Trail through Kearney
Trail Days in Gering, Nebraska,
has celebrated the heritage of
the emigrantsand the history
of the national trailwith the
longest continuously running
celebration in the state.
COURTESY NEBRASKA TOURISM

River to Fort Riley near Manhattan (check (Fort Kearny State Historic Park),

Walnut Grove, Minnesota

Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum

& Information Center
Depot with Laura History Little Red School
Chapel House
Grandmas House Early Settler Building
Walnut Grove Jail Cells Heritage Lane
Dugout Gift Store

NeW exhIbIts

Open April October

Eight Hands-On Buildings to View
888-528-7268 (888-LAURA-68)
2017 Wilder Pageant Dates:
July 14-15, 21-22, 28-29
Call 888-859-3102 for tickets

www.walnutgrove.org

T R U E
53 W E ST
 The memorial to the
Fetterman Massacre was
Petrified Wood
dedicated& Art Gallery
on July 3, 1908.
Fort Kearny
Boot Hill Cowboy commander
Cemetery
Henry B. Carrington was
Front Street Revue
among the
Oldveterans
West Show
who
attended the
Mansion on the Hill Museum ceremony.
(circa 1887)
PHOTOS JOHNNY D. BOGGS

Petrified Wood & Art Gallery
Boot Hill Cowboy Cemetery
(Self-Guided Walking Tour)
Mansion on the Hill Museum
(circa 1887)
Lake McConaughy
Call 800-658-4390
for a free Visitors Packet.
OgallalaTrails.com
Sponsored by the Keith County
Visitors Committee
Lake McConaughy
Gothenburg (Pony Express Station),
Call 800-658-4390
North
for aPlatte (Buffalo
free Visitors Bill Ranch
Packet.
State Historical Park), Ogallala
OgallalaTrails.com
(Boot Hill) and into Julesburg,
Colorado (Depot and Fort Sedgwick
museums).
A Fight Across Wyoming
Turning along the North Platte
River, they came to Fort Laramie,
Wyoming, home of one of the best
preserved old Army posts in the
country. Thats where they picked
up John B. Catlin and Steve
Grover, who were taking a freight wagon Outside of Sussex, youll find only a
to Bozeman and werent about to travel marker denoting Fort Renos existence. The
alone. Its also where Army officials tried fort was abandoned in 1868 and burned by
to halt Story because of Red Clouds War. victorious Indians. After all, Red Cloud
Story didnt listen. wound up winning his war.
Ten miles south of Fort Reno, Story got Leaving his wounded men at Fort Reno,
his first real taste of Lakota Indians. The Story pushed on to Fort Phil Kearny, where
Indians attacked, stampeded the herd and Colonel Henry Carrington stopped Story
ran off with some cattle. In return, the for the trail crews protection. Protection?
Lakotas quickly got a taste of Nelson Story. Carrington didnt want civilian
Catlin recalled: we didnt lose a single livestock grazing on Army grass, so We
head, we just followed those Indians into were camped three miles from the post,
the badlands and took the cattle back. so far that the soldiers could not have

Nelson Story likely passed through what became Ogallala, but the Nebraska town
and its historic Boot Hill Cemetery, would not take shape until almost a decade
after Storys historic trail drive.

T R U E
54 W E ST

rendered assistance if we were attacked,
Catlin said. We just had to sit there and
twiddle our thumbs.
Story wasnt much for thumb-twiddling.
After two weeks, Story asked his men to
vote to stay or go. All but one voted to go.
The dissenter was arrested and made to
come along anyway. On the night of October
21, Story moved outtwo months before
Captain William Fetterman and 80 men were
killed by Indians just over the ridge from
Fort Phil Kearny.
Montana: The Promised Land
Story quickly realized that traveling by
night and grazing the cattlewell-guarded,
naturallyduring the day was the way to
travel. But dont travel by night. The area is
too scenic and full of history. You wont
want to miss it.
After Nelson Story arrived in Montana
with his herd in December 1866, he
founded the Story Cattle Company in the
shadow of Emigrant Peak (above) along
the Yellowstone River in Emigrant Valley.
Cowboys who worked in Yellowstone
country in the 1880s or work there today
stave off the bitter cold by outfitting
themselves with woolies, chaps made
from Angora.
PHOTO BY DONNIE SEXTON, COURTESY OF THE MONTANA OFFICE OF
TOURISM AND BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT/NYPL DIGITAL LIBRARY
He pushed on across Wyoming to Fort C.F.
Smith (part of Bighorn Canyon National
Recreation Center), and then, after fording
the Yellowstone River, along the Emigrant
Trail. It was fairly easy for Story then, and its
smooth traveling today. In Billings (Western
Heritage Center) and Livingston (Yellowstone
Gateway Museum), Story set up a ranch near
present-day Emigrant, where the Story Cattle
Co. & Outfitting remains in operation for
hunting and vacation rentals.
Some cattle (we assume) and the freight
wagons went on past Bozeman (Museum of
the Rockiesbut return to Bozeman when
youre done. Hes buried at Sunset Hills, a
statue of him on horseback is at Lindley Park,
and the mansion he built for his son in 1910
stands on Willson Avenue.
On December 9, 1866, Storys amazing
journey ended at the still wonderful, exciting
and vibrant Virginia City.
I wonder if, to celebrate, he splurged on
a $5 pie baked by his wife.
Johnny D. Boggs has dreamed about writing a novel
about Nelson Storys legendary cattle drive, but so far the
only thing he has come up with is a title, which he isnt
sharing because its not that good anyway.
STUART ROSEBROOK
Fort Laramie National Historic Site
PLACES TO VISIT/
CELEBRATIONS & EVENTS
Dobson Museum, Miami, OK; The Archway, Kearney,
NE; Buffalo Bill Ranch State Historical Park, North
Platte, NE; Rands Custom Hats, Billings, MT;
Babiones Wilson Boots Emporium, Livingston, MT;
25th Annual Leavenworth Candlelight Vintage Homes
Tour, Leavenworth, KS, December 11; Splendid Feast,
The Elling House Arts & Humanities Center, Virginia
City, MT, December 9-10; Fort Worth Stock Show &
Rodeo, Fort Worth, TX, January 13-February 4
Invasion Bar, Kaycee, WY
JOHNNY D. BOGGS
GOOD EATS & SLEEPS
Good Grub: Sonny Bryans, Dallas, TX; Bobos Drive
In, Topeka, KS; Fort Laramie American Grill, Fort
Laramie, WY; Invasion Bar, Kaycee, WY; Brunos: A
Taste of Italy, Billings, MT; Copper Whiskey Bar & Grill,
Bozeman, MT
Good Lodging: Stockyards Hotel, Fort Worth, TX; Union
Park Guest House, Leavenworth, KS; Stagecoach Inn,
Ogallala, NE; Historic Occidental Hotel, Buffalo,
WY; Great Northern Hotel, Billings, MT; Fairweather
Inn, Virginia City, MT; Story Cattle Co. & Outfitting,
Emigrant, MT
GOOD BOOKS
Following Old Trails by Arthur L. Stone; The Bloody
Bozeman by Dorothy M. Johnson; The Trampling Herd
by Paul I. Wellman; Moon of Bitter Cold (novel) by
Frederick J. Chiaventone
GOOD FILMS & TV
The Showdown (Republic, 1950); The Tall Men (20th
Century-Fox, 1955); Lonesome Dove (CBS, 1989)
T R U E
55 W E ST
 F RO N T I E R FA R E
BY S H E R RY M O N A H A N
Hand Over the
Ice Cream
How frontier pioneers enjoyed their ice cream desserts.
I
n 1850, a new ice cream saloon in
San Francisco, California, greeted
patrons with the aromas of vanilla
and lemon.
The Alta California described the shop
as: A polished and luxurious retreat from
the dusty streets and din of business, where
perfect order and comfort prevails, and
where the icy sweets are dispensed by fair
hands, and come home to the most
exquisite tastes....
All over the frontier West, folks enjoyed
ice cream served to them by street
peddlers, at stand-alone parlors or saloons,
and in bakeries, candy shops, coffee
houses and restaurants.
Flavors included tastes we know and
love to this day, such as vanilla, chocolate,
strawberry and lemon. Sometimes other
odors mixed in with these sweet scents;
patrons got an interesting whiff when
they entered the ice cream and oyster
tent that Sacramento businesswoman
Mrs. Josephine opened in 1851.
T R U E
56 W E ST
The search for a faster route
to obtain Far Eastern spices
landed Christopher Columbus
in America in 1492. Fast
forward to 1850, when
New York City druggist
Selah R. Van Duzer entered
the fight against cheap
imitation extracts by selling
his pure flavoring extracts,
advertised in this trade card,
which flavored ice cream
among other desserts.
TRUE WEST ARCHIVES
A modest vendor in St.
Louis, Missouri, Carlile
Michelmore, announced in
May 1851 that his Fountain
of the Roses was open for
the season. He advertised,
I invite my old friends and
the community at large to
give me a call, and try my Ice Cream and
Soda-Water; which I flatter myself, cannot
be equalled in the city.
Even fried ice cream, which some may
consider a 21st-century novelty, was a
trend in 1894. It sounds queer, but it tastes
very good, read a newspaper headline in
Parsons, Kansas.
A small, solid cake of the cream is
enveloped in a thin sheet of pie crust and
then dipped in boiling lard or butter long
enough to cook the outside to a crisp.
Served immediately, the ice cream is found
to be as solidly frozen as when it was first
prepared, the citys paper, The Parsons
Weekly Blade, reported on July 7, 1894.
The paper informed readers that the
wife of Alexander Hamilton, the first U.S.
Treasury secretary, introduced this
toothsome dish of baked ice cream with
a meringue top at the nations capital.
Another surprise is how folks ate ice
cream. People today generally eat ice cream
in bowls, but during the 19th century,
 patrons ate ice cream off plates or saucers.
Bowls did not become popular as an ice
cream serving dish until the 1900s.
In 1887, a Kansas City, Missouri, couple
was so desperate to get married, that the
husband-to-be, George Shumaker,
scoured the city for Judge Henry P. White,
locating him at the Turner Hall beer
garden. When Shumaker and his bride-
to-be, Emma Holden, reached the hall,
they found the garden too full of people.
Seeking a more private venue, they
strolled across the street to Hunters Ice
Cream Saloon.
When they entered the saloon, the
sweet smells of vanilla, chocolate,
pineapple, lemon and banana enveloped
them. Mr. Hunter saw an opportunity to
sell lots of ice cream to the wedding party,
so he agreed to host the ceremony. After
the couple was married, the guests took
seats in the parlor, and the waiters rushed
in to take their ice cream orders.
When a waiter asked the new Mrs.
Shumaker what she would like to order,
she declared, Lets go over and get some
beer in the garden, dear George. It will
be nicer and cheaper.
Proprietor Hunter shouted with rage:
Thats the last wedding that will take Check out BBBs new website
place here. If that girl wasnt married she
would sit down here and eat a dozen where he posts his daily whipouts.
plates of ice cream and never murmur.
You will probably eat at least a dozen
plates (or bowls) of the lemon ice cream
from the 1882 recipe enjoyed by Dakota
Territory pioneers.

Sherry Monahan has penned The Cowboys

Cookbook, Mrs. Earp: Wives & Lovers of the Earp
Brothers; California Vines, Wines & Pioneers; Taste
of Tombstone and The Wicked West. She has appeared
on Fox News, History Channel and AHC.

LEMON ICE CREAM

2 cups heavy cream
1 cup milk
1 cups sugar
cup freshly squeezed lemon juice or 1
tablespoon lemon extract

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and

stir to combine until sugar is dissolved. Was Wyatt Earp A Horse Thief? - Original $950 Docs Last Gunfight cover art - Original $1,200
Gouache: 12 X 10 art print, $45 plus $5 S&H Gouache: 12 X 10 art print, $45 plus $5 S&H
Freeze according to ice cream machine
instructions. Makes one quart.

Recipe adapted from Miner Sentinel, in
Miner, Dakota Territory, August 25, 1882
~ BobBozeBell.net ~
T R U E
57 W E ST
BO S
n
K
e r
O
W e s t BOOK REVIE
W S E D I T O R : STUART R
OSEBROOK

Lighting
the Fuse
Paul Hedrens Powder River redefines the history
of the Great Sioux War, plus biographies on
Old West characters in New York and the
Winchester dynasty, and novels on Billy the Kid
and the Nebraska frontier.

0
n March 17, 1876, U.S. Army Col. Joseph J. Reynolds
led six cavalry companies on an early morning
attack against a Northern Cheyenne village on the
Powder River on the border of the Montana and
Wyoming Territories. The attack ignited an 18-month war that
changed the course of history for the United States and the Indian
nations of the Northern Plains. For over 140 years, journalists,
pundits and historians have analyzed the Great Sioux War that
followed Reynolds controversial attack, but until this year, only
one other major studyJ.W. Vaughns 1961 The Reynolds
Campaign on Powder Riverhas specifically focused on the
battle and its consequences. Paul L. Hedrens Powder River:
Disastrous Opening of the Great Sioux War (University of
Oklahoma Press, $34.95), the tenth volume on the Great Sioux
Wars he has authored or edited in his prolific career, will now
be considered the definitive
work on the subject. With twenty years of research, including
new primary sources from the Northern Cheyenne tribe, Hedren
brilliantly resets the framework of Col. Reynolds attacks on the
Northern Cheyenne villages and their influence on the short- and
long-term consequences of the battle on the Great Sioux War, the
Northern Plains tribes, the officer corps of the U.S. Army and the

Gen. George Crooks role in planning with Gen. Phil Sheridan

the provocation of the Sioux to start the Great Sioux War,
and his role as a field commander in the war, is thoroughly
revealed in Paul Hedrens groundbreaking Powder River.
COURTESY AUTHORS COLLECTION

T R U E
58 W E ST

The historical perspective of the
Northern Cheyenne, and Little Wolfs
leadership role in the Great Sioux
War, is a cornerstone of Paul Hedrens
comprehensive research in Powder River.
COURTESY SMITHSONIAN LIBRARY ARCHIVES, WIKIMEDIA
COMMONS, PHOTO BY ALEXANDER GARDNER
settlement of the northern tier of Western
states and territories. As Hedren writes, my
hope is that readerswill gain refreshed and
new insights on this first battle of this Indian
war and the campaign (the Big Horn
Expedition) of which it was a part.
In late 1875, the United States economy
was still reeling from the Panic of 1873. In
the East, industrialization, unionization,
unemployment, immigration and reconstruc-
tion dominated the headlines, while in the
West, unprecedented change, conflict,
settlement and construction on current and
former Indian lands had the U.S. Army and
citizens battling tribes in nearly every state
and territory. President Ulysses S. Grants
two-term administration was troubled from
coast to coast with financial, social, political
and economic unrest. Grant, who had
considered running for an unprecedented
third term, had retreated from that idea at
the end of 1875, and, as commander in chief,
turned his attention to something he knew
well: war. The peace process was long in
shambles as was Reconstruction, and Grant
green-lighted a campaign against the Sioux
and their tribal allies in November 1875.
The former general from Galena, Illinois,
could not imagine that he and his Union
officer colleagues, Philip Sheridan and
George Crook, were about to set into motion
the fates of history that would end the
traditional way of life for the Northern Plains
Indians, and bind the destinies of George
Armstrong Custer, Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull
and a river valley called Little Big Horn to be
etched infamously into the annals of history.
As Hedren writes in his preface, Custer was
to be a part of that plan: he and Crook were
two of the armys illustrious field marshals.
Failure was simply unimagined. It seems to
[Hedren] that one cannot tell the story of the
Big Horn Expedition and its Powder River
battle without fully understanding the rosy-
tinted context in which Crook and fellow
officers presumed and planned.
The strength of Hedrens Powder River is
his impeccable research, voluminous
endnotes, detailed appendices and inclusive
bibliography that will remain a resource for
students, researchers and historians for
decades. His pursuit of new primary source
material from the Lakotas and Northern
Cheyennesespecially about the little-known
Cheyenne patriarch Chief Old Bearled to
newly discovered material in the National
Archives, Adjutant Generals Office and the
Judge Advocate Generals review files on the
post-Battle of Powder River court martials of
Henry E. Noyes, Alexander Moore and Joseph
J. Reynolds. Meticulously written in a
poignant and thought-provoking style,
Hedrens experience as a leader in the
National Parks service is brought to bear in
his conclusions and summations on the
conflict, leaving the reader seeking to consider
the ongoing importance of the 19th century
war to our 21st-century nation, and a guiding,
encouraging voice in support of preserving
and protecting the Powder River battlefield
for today and tomorrow.
Stuart Rosebrook
With the end
of the 2016
publishing year
fast approaching,
I have started my
annual review of
the year in books.
A fast-growing
segment of Five
Star/Cengages publishing is Frontier Fiction
set in the antebellum era of the fur trade,
Trans-Appalachian settlement and Western
settlement between 1812 and 1861, while
national and regional publishers are also
mining the rich heritage of the nations first
decades in the West.
An evergreen Old West favorite category is the
history of lawmen and outlaws in the West,
and in 2016, the history of law and order in
Texas seemed to take a strong lead:
St. Martins:
Texas Ranger: The Epic Life of Frank Hamer,
the Man Who Killed Bonnie and Clyde by
John Boessnecker
University of North Texas Press:
Riding for the Lone Star: Frontier Cavalry
and the Texas Way of War, 1822-1865 by
Nathan A. Jennings
Whiskey River Ranger: The Old West Life of
Baz Outlaw by Bob Alexander
Forging the Star: The Official Modern History
of the United States Marshals Service by
David S. Turk
Texas Tech University Press:
From Guns to Gavels: How Justice Grew Up in
the West by Bill Neal
TwoDot/Rowman & Littlefield:
Cowboys and Gangsters: Stories of an
Untamed Southwest by Samuel K. Dolan
Texas Ranger Tales, Hard-Riding Stories
from the Lone Star State by Mike Cox
Stuart Rosebrook
T R U E
59 W E ST
 LEGENDS OF THE OLD
WEST VISIT THE BIG APPLE
Throughout the 19th and
early 20th centuries, many Old
West icons were frequent
visitors to New York City. Their
association with urban life and
related buildings is captured by
author Michael P. OConnor
through a series of short
biographies in The
Wild West Meets the
Big Apple (Pelican
Publishing Company,
Michael OConnors insightful
$25.95). Nearly 90
study of New Yorks influence
archival images and
on numerous iconic Old West
charactersincluding many who lived, current photographs help readers
and even died, like Bat Masterson, identify sites and former structures,
in the great Eastern city, is chronicled as well as the few still standing,
in The Wild West Meets the Big Apple. associated with the likes of David
COURTESY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Crockett, Butch Cassidy, the
Sundance Kid, Bat Masterson, Buffalo Bill
Cody, Sitting Bull, Mark Twain, Libbie Custer,
Maj. Gen. John C. Fremont and others. No
disappointment here! Guided by this well-
researched book, readers can walk the streets
to places where Old West legends lived, dined
and shopped.
Stan Tex Banash, author of
Roadside History of Illinois
A WESTERN DYNASTY:
WINCHESTER
Firearms enthusiasts know
of Winchesters role in the
development of the repeating
rifle, yet few have knowledge
of the personal dealings
involved in creating and
growing this world-famous
arms-maker. As the great-
great-great granddaughter of

THIS AD IS SPONSORED BY THE FRIENDS OF THE HUTCHINSON COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM

Bent's Old Fort, similar to Fort Adobe,
which was later later became known as
Adobe Walls. llustration courtesy
The Wild West lives on
of the National Park Service.
at the Hutchinson County
Historical Museum!
After the Louisiana Purchase, even as the earliest explorers
crossed the North American continent, America's economic
From 1843 to 1849, brothers (above, left to right) frontier expanded ever-westward. Trappers went to the Rocky
Charles and William Bent with partner Mountains for beaver, Plains Indians traded buffalo hides and the
Ceran St. Vrain operated a vast trading first wagons rolled between the Missouri River and Santa Fe and began
empire based at Bents Old Fort in southeastern commerce with Mexico. The faces of the men shown here are those who
Colorado. One of their many outposts was Fort Adobe were part of the clash of cultures that opened the western United States.
in what is now Hutchinson County, Texas. The ruins of
Fort Adobe later became known as Adobe Walls. The second battle of Adobe Walls occurred on
June 27, 1874. A buffalo hunters' camp was
built there earlier that year in what is now
Hutchinson County Texas, about a mile
from Adobe Walls. Led by a young hunter
named Billy Dixon, the camp was attacked
by about 700 Plains Indians, mostly Kiowas
Cheyennes and Comanches, who were led by Quanah Parker Billy Dixon
Comanche chief Quanah Parker. Dixon made
Kit Carson Dohsan a famous 7/8 of a mile shot that ended the battle.
The first battle of Adobe Wall was fought on November 24,
1864. Ordered to stop Indian attacks on Santa Fe wagon trains, The Hutchinson County Historical Museum features
U. S. Army Col. Kit Carson, 14 officers, 321 enlisted men and exhibits of the battles at Adobe Walls and other events of
75 Indian scouts attacked Kiowa chief Dohsan's village of 150 this transformative period in American history. HCHM
lodges near the ruins of Fort Adobe. Soon realizing he was out- also displays the artifacts and tells the stories of early
numbered, Carson retreated. Facing great odds, his retreat ranching and farming in the area as well as the story of 618 North Main Street
was praised as an outstanding military operation. Though the Borger Oil Boom in 1926 that changed the economy Borger, Texas 79007
unable to strike a decisive blow, he is credited with victory. and the future of the Texas Panhandle. 806 273 0130

Open Tues. - Fri. 9-5, Sat. 1- 4:30 Free admission Visit hutchinsoncountymuseum.org for more information

T R U E
60 W E ST
 Although few Henry rifles, produced by the
New Haven Arms Co. (later Winchester) were
officially issued, many of these privately
purchased repeaters, according to author
Laura Trevelyan, had an impact on the
battlefield against Confederate and Indian
tribes at war with the U.S.
COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

founder Oliver Winchester, author Laura

Trevelyan relates Winchesters history as
only a family member can in The Winchester:
the Gun That Built an American Dynasty
(Yale University Press, $28). Being privy to
the comings and goings of her ancestors
through family stories, private letters and
factory documentation, she recounts the
repeaters history while sharing insight into
Oliver Winchesterthe manalong with BLEACHED BONES lot of unanswered
that of his progeny, who played important questions. After years
Set in the harsh, beautiful Sand Hills of
parts in furthering the company after his away, Bennetts widow,
Nebraska at the dawn of the 20th century,
passing. Revealing the fascinating intricacies Dulcinea, teams up
Jonis Agees The Bones of Paradise
of deals, good and bad, she provides a look with the slain Indian
(William Morrow, $25.99) is a masterful
at an American dynasty that played a pivotal epic of family secrets, betrayal and murder girls sister to investi-
role in the development of our frontier, as that captures a pivotal era in the history of gate the two murders.
well as in world history. the American West. Rancher J.B. Bennetts They cross paths with
Phil Spangenberger, True Wests body is found in a ditch next to a slain predatory oil men,
Firearms Editor Lakota girl, leaving the community with a crooked lawyers, and

T R U E
61 W E ST
 new from
massachusetts
ImmIgrant entrepreneur
Innovator LevI StrauSS
KANSAS AUTHORS SHARE LOVE
OF TRAILS FROM TEXAS

Gary and Margaret Kraisingers years-long passion

has been to study and share with others the fascinating
history of cattle-driving from Texas to all points north.
To them, this short-lived endeavor of cowboy outfits
driving herds of longhorns to an outlet, stopping along
the way at cattle towns, encompasses the Old West in
its purest form. The task of pushing Texas cattle to a
northern destination ended in 1897, but through the
years the heritage of that industry continues to be retold
again and again through movies, re-enactments, novels
and nonfictional accounts such as in their upcoming
2017 book, The Shawnee-Arbuckle Trail, 1867-1870, The
Predecessor of the Chisholm Trail to Abilene, Kansas.
The most enjoyable reading for the Kraisingers is the cowboy journals. They do exist, but
Riveting! they are usually buried in library archives or somewhere in a trunk, yet to see the light of
Robert J. Chandler, day. Their two volumes on the Great Western Trail provide historical details from many of
author of San Francisco Lithographer: African
American Artist Grafton Tyler Brown
these rare sources.
The following books are some of their favorites:
university of
massachusetts 1 The Trail Drivers of Texas (compiled and and helped in various other trail drives of
press amherst & Boston
www.umass.edu/umpress edited by J. Marvin Hunter, University of Texas a shorter nature before settling in Montana
800-537-5487 Press): This volume of over 1,000 pages in 1883. At age 78, he dictated his story to
contains some 300 accounts of trail drivers. Helena Huntington Smith, who masterfully
In 1917, trail driver and historian George W. described Teddy Blues early life and his
Sanders urged his fellow drovers at the Old experiences on three different trail drives.
Time Trail Drivers Convention in San Antonio
to each write a sketch of his experiences on the 4 Bob Fudge, Texas Trail Driver, Montana-
trail. After years of hard work and the enlistment Wyoming Cowboy, 1862-1933 (Jim Russell,
of journalist Hunter, the collection was released News-Argus Printing): Russell, who knew
in its final form in 1925. Bob Fudge personally, realized in 1932 that
he was the only one who could coax the old
2 The Log of a Cowboy (Andy Adams, cowboy to tell his story. Published years
University of Nebraska Press): Adams made later, this book is a delightful read about a
many cattle drives north from Texas between trail driver who went up the trail several times
1882 and 1889. At 43, being disgusted with from 1882 to 1895.
the unrealistic cowboy fiction of his day, he
decided to tell of his own experiences on 5 North of 36 (Emerson Hough, Grosset &
the trail. Because he chose to use fictional Dunlap Publishers): Houghs novel dramatizes
characters and names, academia labeled his a trail drive to Abilene, Kansas, in about 1868.
work as fiction, but his content is authentic. His story is based on his knowledge about the
early post-Civil War trail drives. He explained
CUSTOM CRAFTED 3 We Pointed Them North (E. C. Abbott,
University of Oklahoma Press): Starting at
that the cowboy outfit went to Abilene by way
of the Arbuckle Mountains in Indian Territory,
PERSONALIZED GIFTS the age of 19 in 1879, Teddy Blue pushed which is a different route than the recognized
Capture unique brands, logos & longhorns up the Western Trail from Texas Chisholm Trail of today.
names on custom-made bootjacks,
leather coaster sets, luggage tags
& marble trivets. Lasting gifts
for Christmas, weddings,
birthdays & rodeos.

1-888-301-1967
www.crawjacks.com

T R U E
62 W E ST
desperadoes, as the two women follow
a trail that may lead back to the tragic
massacre at Wounded Knee ten years
earlier.
Patrick Millikin, editor of
The Highway Kind: Tales of Fast Cars,
Desperate Drivers, and Dark Roads

THE

THE GRANT CONSPIRACY

called to
the dashing Matt Tyler is

ROMANCINGE THE KID, PART II

arly in the summer of 1880, the presidents

GRANT
his great surprise, led into
the White House and, to
private office.
to join a law
has declined an invitation
Picking up shortly after the end of the
Knowing the young lawyer
firm in Colorado, President
Hayes asks Matt to reverse
his decision.

CONSPIRACY
by wagon, and
planning to tour the Rockies
Former president Grant is wants
life during the war, the firm
Lincoln County War, Nicole Maddalo
because Matt saved the generals
him there to draw Grant to
them. But its a trap for an
assassination

Wake of the Civil War

is now to undermin e the evil plot.
and Matts mission
Dixons sequel to
Based on a true incident,
this gripping novel takes
you on a Wild
Confederates,
a group of ruthless former
Bandita Bonita:
West adventure that pits
fueled by greed and revenge,
against a colorful cast of
characters

A young lawyer, an angry young

an Jennifer
and gorgeousnewspaperwom
that includes the fearless
White.
Romancing Billy
the Kid (Sunstone
Lee Martin is the published
author of forty-two short
stories, as
and one with
newspaper woman, and a black veteran
novels with Avalon Books
well as seventeen Western

Press, $22.95) con-

Five Star. Also a writer
of screenplays, Martin grew
mostly Westerns since the
up on cattle
third grade. stumble on an evil law firms plot to
ranches and has been writing

tinues the story of

Martins book, Shadow
on the Mesa, was the basis
for Martins
which was
assassinate former President Grant,
rated movie with Kevin Sorbo,

not for the Civil War but for Black

screenplay for the highly
LEE MARTIN

history. It
in Hallmark Movie Channel
one of the most watched
Lucy Howard, the
won the Bronze Wrangle
r for Best Television Feature
in
Film, awarded
Oklahom a City,

Friday, as Grant tours the Rockies by

& Cowboy Museum
by the National Heritage

fictional female
Oklahoma.

I V I L WA R
member of the
WA K E O F T H E C wagon in 1880.
Regulators, and LEE MARTIN
her complicated
romance with Screenwriter and author Lee Martins latest novel, THE GRANT CONSPIRACY:
Billy the Kid. WAKE OF THE CIVIL WAR, is ready made for adaptation for the silver-screen or
Though Bandita Bonita and Billy the television with a Robert Conrad cameo a requirement for production. Martins
Kid: The Scourge of New Mexico will history tale of a planned assassination attempt against former President
appeal to women more than men, the Ulysses S. Grant is ready for central casting and a sequel. In the meantime,
attention to historical detail is impressive. order a copy of Martins frolicking Western tale with a great cast of characters,
including the war-heroturned lawyer Matt Tyler, and femme-fatale
From appearances by Jesse Evans to Dr.
newspaper woman Jennifer White and ex-Confederates out for revenge.
Henry Hoyt, historical purists should be
immensely entertained by the number of Stuart Rosebrook, Senior Editor, True West Magazine.
real characters the author manages to
weave into the narrative, itself written in
the flowery and somewhat verbose prose
of the 1880s. While a hired gun for the cattlemen, Wes learns his
John LeMay, author of Tall Tales Arapaho mother was murdered.
and Half Truths of Billy the Kid He also learns that his long lost white father is still
alive, rich with a family, and may have hired the killer.
Wes starts out on a trail for vengeance against his own
father.
Martin also wrote the script for the movie, starring
Kevin Sorbo, which won the Wrangler Award given by
the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

COMING SOON: Another new and exciting Western novel by Lee Martin:

THE LAST WILD RIDE

In 1877, a shot up, beat up, bitter ex-lawman finds himself roped into
escorting a fugitive widow and her mute son through the badlands, aided by old
scouts and a lecherous gambler, while a lynch mob led by her vengeful
ex mother-in-law is hot on their trail.

New Mexico author Nicole Maddalo Based on Lee Martins screenplay. Watch for it!
Dixons expert use of historical detail
makes Romancing Billy the Kid, the
second volume in her Bandita Bonita
Look for all of Lee Martins 19 western novels at AMAZON.COM,
series, an action-packed novel that the or wherever books are sold. Many are on audio
Kids fans will truly appreciate. with BOOKS IN MOTION.
COURTESY ROBERT G. MCCUBBIN COLLECTION

T R U E
63 W E ST
 e r n
S
t
E
s
I
e
MO V
W IES
D V D & THVE N RSY EC . RP A R K E
BY

Westworld
Reborn
The channel behind Deadwood has another compelling series for Western fans to watch.

W
hen, in 1973, MGM, once the
titan of Hollywood studios,
found itself on the ropes after
a string of flops, a tiny film saved the studio
from oblivion.
With $1.25 million to work with, novelist-
turned first-time screenwriter and director
Michael Crichton created a darkly
humorous contemporary Sci-Fi Western,
about a high-priced ($1,000 a day!) resort
where wannabe cowboys could live out
their fantasiesbe heroes or villains, guns
blazing! Best of all, because realistic, but
remotely controlled robots populated the
place, nobody could get hurt. That is, until
one robot, played by Yul Brynner, in his
The Magnificent Seven garb, got fed up
with letting the tourists outdraw him. Other
robots soon began malfunctioning in a
deadly way.
Westworld, starring James Brolin and
Dick Benjamin as businessmen who might
have to die for their fantasies, was a smash
with filmgoers, but especially with fans
of Westerns, because the 1973 film created
a completely plausible world that they
were desperate to enter. The movie
spawned a sequel, a short-lived CBS series
and passionate fans.
But Jonathan Nolan, writer-director of
the new HBO series Westworld, notes that
the movie spawned much more: The
original film anticipates Terminator and
video games and artificial intelligenceso
many ideas packed into that film. I probably
shouldnt have watched when I was eight:
Yul Brynner haunted my dreams for years
to come. I loved it.
While updated technologically, the new
Westworld is a thrilling, often heartbreakingly
beautiful continuation of the predecessors
themes with, Jonathan explains, An original
set of stories within that world.

Fans of Michael Crichtons

Westworld movie will meet new
characters in the HBO series, notably
Dr. Robert Ford (played by Anthony
Hopkins, far left), the founder of
Westworld. His uncompromising
vision of the futuristic theme park
allows wannabe cowboys to interact
with robot heroes and villains.
The life-like androids populating
Westworld are the brilliant work of
keen human observer Bernard Lowe
(Jeffrey Wright, left).
ALL WESTWORLD PHOTOS BY JOHN P. JOHNSON / HBO

T R U E
64 W E ST
 To receive FREE information from our advertisers, simply
make your selections from the category listing on the adjacent card. Either mail the post-paid card or
fax it to 480-575-1903. We will forward your request. Valid until 12/31/16.

ADVENTURE FOOD & BEVERAGE Carbon County, WY p. 2

Crow Canyon Archaeological Center Big Nose Kates Saloon p. 90 El Paso, TX p. 103
(Tours & Digs) p. 56 Caf Margarita p. 90 Florence, AZ p. 95
Garrett Metal Detectors p. 77 The Longhorn Restaurant p. 90 Fort Smith, AR p. 102
Georgetown Loop Railroad p. 99 Tortilla Flat Superstition Saloon p. 100 Kearney, NE p. 101
O.K. Corral p. 1 Laramie, WY p. 78
HOME
APPAREL & ACCESSORIES True West Home p. 56 North Platte, NE p. 89
Classic Old West Styles p. 104 Ogallala, NE p. 54
LODGING Old Sacramento, CA p. 86
Crawford & Company Customized
Boot Jacks p. 62 Strater Hotel p. 57 Pecos, TX p. 71
Golden Gate Western Wear/ Talking Stick Resort p. 107 Scotts Bluff/Gering, NE p. 100
Knudsen Hat Co. p. 104 MEDIA Sheridan, WY p. 15
Historic Eyewear Company p. 104 A Life and Death of Oregon The Dalles, OR p. 88
Miller Ranch p. 20 Cattle King Peter French 1849-1897 Tombstone, AZ p. 90
Western and Wildlife Wonders p. 104 by Edward Gray p. 104 Tortilla Flat, AZ p. 100
ART & COLLECTIBLES Guidon Books p. 104 Tubac, AZ p. 95
Anniversary & Special Edition Lee Martin Books p. 63 Virginia City, MT p. 83
Collectible Rifles p. 52 Levi Strauss by Lynn Downey p. 62 Wickenburg, AZ p. 91
Sedona Sky Turquoise Bracelet p. 13 Louis LAmour Trading Post p. 104 Willcox, AZ p. 94
The Hawken Shop p. 67 Miss Devon & the Outlaw p. 53
Wild Bill Wholesale Ride with James Younger Gang:
Old West Collectibles p. 11 Trail of Terror and Beyond p. 94 Statement of Ownership
Management & Circulation
EVENTS MUSEUMS (required by 39 USC 3685)

1. True West 2. 0041-3615 3. 9-22-16

Arizona Renaissance Festival & Buffalo Soldiers National Museum p. 82 4. Twelve issues per year 5. 12 6. $29.95
Artisan Marketplace p. 106 Deming Luna Historical Society p. 82 7. 6702 E. Cave Creek Rd, Suite #5
Cave Creek, AZ 85331
Chisholm Trail 150th Anniversary p. 103 Hutchinson County Historical Museum p. 60 Carole Glenn, (480) 575-1881
Cochise Cowboy Poetry Gathering p. 106 Jesse James Farm & Museum p. 52 8. PO Box 8008, Cave Creek, AZ 85327
9. Ken Amorosano, PO Box 8008, Cave Creek,
Horse & Burro Adoption p. 3 John Wayne Birthplace & Museum p. 101 AZ 85327; Robert A. Bell, PO Box 8008,
O.K. Corral p. 1 Cave Creek, AZ 85327; Meghan Saar, PO
Knight Museum & Sandhills Center p. 100 Box 8008, Cave Creek, AZ 85327
Old West Events Western Americana Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum p. 53 10. True West Publishing, Inc., PO Box 8008,
Antique Show & Auction IFC Cave Creek, AZ 85327
O.K. Corral p. 1 Stockholders: Robert A. Bell, PO Box 8008,
Rock Island Auction Co.s Premiere Pony Express Museum p. 54 Cave Creek, AZ 85327; Ken and Lucinda
Firearms Auction BC Amorosano, PO Box 8008, Cave Creek, AZ
Superstition Mountain Museum p. 102 85327; Dave Daiss, PO Box 8008, Cave
Superstition Mountain Heritage Days p. 102 Creek, AZ 85327; Daniel Harshberger, PO
Tubac Presidio State Historic Park p. 95 Box 8008, Cave Creek, AZ 85327
Wickenburg Gold Rush Days p. 91 11. N/A
West of the Pecos Museum p. 69 12. N/A 13. True West Magazine 14. Dec 2016
FIREARMS & KNIVES 15. Twelve issues per year
PRESERVATION A. 64,647 64,494
A. Uberti p. 21
Crow Canyon Archaeological Center B1. 19,469 19,976
Anniversary & Special Edition (Tours & Digs) p. 56 B2. 0 0
Collectible Rifles p. 52 B3. 32,530 31,137
Fort Bayard Historic B4. 475 470
Black Hills Ammunition p. 61 Preservation Society p. 88
C. 52,474 51,583
D1. 0 0
Buffalo Arms Co. p. 67 Fort Chadbourne Foundation p. 89 D2. 0 0
D3. 0 0
Classic Old West Styles p. 104 Tubac Presidio State Historic Park p. 95 D4. 8,422 8,549
Rock Island Auction BC E. 8,422 8,549
F. 60,896 60,132
Taylors & Company p. 18 TOURISM G. 3,751 4,362
Abilene, KS p. 103 H. 64,647 64,494
The Hawken Shop p. 67 I. 86.1% 86.7%
Wild Bill Wholesale Buffalo, WY p. 79 17. Dec 2016 18. Carole Glenn, 9-22-16
Old West Collectibles p. 11 Cave Creek, AZ p. 98
T R U E
65 W E ST
 Youll be hooked from the moment the
first group of newcomers (the paying
visitors) is on the train, headed for
Sweetwater, Wyoming, for their introductory
meeting with their robot hosts.
Yul Brynner haunted my
Jonathan wrote the series with his wife,
Lisa Joy. Both writers are in their element
dreams for years to come.
with the premise. He wrote the original story I loved it.
for the brilliant 2000 amnesia film Memento;
Jonathan Nolan, who admits that Ed Harriss Man in Black
she contributed scripts to 2007-09s Pushing character (left) was inspired by Yul Brynners gunslinger
Daisies, about a man who can bring the robot character
dead to life for a single minute.
Its a synthetic Western, Jonathan says.
What Lisa and I were drawn to was the
juxtaposition between Science Fiction and newcomer Teddy Flood. The elusive love I think Tony, or Sir Anthony, like a lot
the Western, and the values they have in story; its a timeless tale that has always of us, has been watching TV, Jonathan says.
common. appealed to me, Lisa says. So much of a And I love the movies, but the work thats
Theyre both basically frontier stories, love story working [entails] first finding being done in TV right now is a little more
Lisa elaborates. The Westerns are classic yourself. And that links deeply into Jonathans sophisticated, a little more cerebral and a
frontier stories, and [Sci-Fi] is about the new theme, the problem with memory, because little more gripping.
frontier of space, the new frontier of the hosts memories are constantly being The 10-episode first season began airing
technology. Theyre linked by this common erased. So to pursue their dreams, they must Sundays on HBO on October 2. How long will
themethe individual versus the unknown. first figure out which are their dreams and Westworld run? Jonathan says, Lisa and I
Writing a successful adaptation is complex. which are the dreams theyve been came with a game plan for where the seasons
You need to understand and appreciate what programmed to have. would go and how the story would end. But
was essential to the original property, but you One of the great additions to the longform the beauty of television is the journey is as
have to be willing to be a bit of a heretic, and story not found in the 1973 film is the long as the audience wants it to be. The goal
start anew, Jonathan says. There were two character of the visionary behind the will be to keep telling the story as long as its
things that we were very excited about from Westworld resort, Dr. Robert Ford, a name vital and compelling.
the original film; one, the idea of the emerging inspired by Jesse Jamess killer, the Nolans
artificial intelligence robots, there to service admit. For that role, HBO cast a brilliant
our id, who eventually bridle at that job. And actor not primarily known for television Henry C. Parke is a screenwriter based in Los Angeles,
California, who blogs about Western movies, TV, radio and
two, the environment where youre told that Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins. print news: HenrysWesternRoundup.Blogspot.com
no one is keeping score, and you can behave
as you want with no consequences.
While all of the characters in the HBO
series are new, one bears a striking
familiarityEd Harriss Man in Black in
the remake has more than a passing
resemblance to Brynners gunslinger
character in the original.
We wanted to turn the narrative inside
out, and look at this world from the
perspective of the robots. So if the original
film is about hapless humans in a park where
the robots have gone crazy, our series is
about the hapless robot inhabitants of a
world in which the guests have gone crazy.
And Ed sort of symbolically takes on that
role of the villain that Yul played in the film,
but in this case its the guests who are the
most villainous, Jonathan says.
Along with the villainy, the remake offers
The most wanted bandit at Westworld, Hector Escaton (played by Rodrigo Santoro,
one trope not found in the original film:
at right), embraces the role of predator as a survival tactic. Among the characters he
romance. Evan Rachel Wood plays host
encounters in HBOs dark odyssey series is razor-sharp madam Maeve Millay (played by
Dolores Abernathy to James Marsdens Thandie Newton, at left), who thinks she has seen it all...until her worldview is challenged.
t r u e
66 w e st
HOLIDAY GIFT SET
DVD Review: Traveltalks
(Warner Archive; $29.99) Nothing
whisks a person away from his troubles
more than a color-drenched visit to the
far corners of the nation and the globe.
During the Great Depression, when
many Americans lived out their lives
never leaving their home state, no less
their country, travelogues helped folks
escape reality.
Nobody made the travel documentary
better than James A. FitzPatrick, who
produced more than 200 of the films for
MGM throughout the 1930s-50s. Warner
Archive has selected 60 of the best films
for Traveltalks: Volume 1.
Each short is a historical moment frozen
in time, when our soon-to-be enemies like
Japan were still quaint and when Paris was
untouched by Adolf Hitlers occupation.
Many of the topics are of particular interest
to Old West history aficionados, including
Rainbow Canyon, Los Angeles: Wonder
City of the West, Yellowstone Park:
Natures Playground, Old New Mexico, Your source for cowboy
Motoring in Mexico, Through the
shooting supplies,
Its more than a rI
rIfle,
Colorado Rockies, Along the Cactus
Trail and City of Brigham Young. Its hI
hIstory! obsolete and cowboy
My favorite of the journeys opened my
eyes to worlds I could not visit today. ammunition!
Cavalcade of San Francisco offers a film
record of the legendary Cavalcade of
the Golden West, from the 1939-1940
Golden Gate International Exposition.
Red Men on Paradeno fear of political
incorrectness then!is a gorgeously
filmed intertribal meeting in New Mexico.
And A Day in Death Valley features a
visit to Scottys Castle, with Death Valley
Scotty himself, as well as a trip to a Borax
mining operation converted to a resort.
These stunningly beautiful Technicolor
Outfitters to the Old West!

Buffalo
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T R U E
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T RU E W E ST E R N T OW N S
B Y L E O W. B A N K S

West Texas
Paradise
Legendary Pecos welcomes visitors to stay awhile and enjoy the
Western hospitality of the Southern Plains.

P
ecos, Texas, wouldnt exist if
not for the shape of the Pecos
River. Near where the town
would come to be, the deep,
twisting gorge narrowed to allow the
crossing of horses, wagons and cattle being
driven to market.
Beginning about 1873, a crossroads
settlement sprouted on the west Texas
prairie. Its main activities were ranching,
farming, drinking and shooting at each other,
jokes Debbie Thomas, former director of the A centerpiece of Pecos Centennial Park is a 1935 replica of Judge Roy Beans
West of the Pecos Museum. But it really was infamous courtroom and saloon, The Jersey Lily in Langtry, Texas. A justice of the
a wilderness. If you were running from the peace, Bean traveled Val Verde County to mete out his brand of the law,
law, this was the place to be. which he did many times in Pecos.
ALL PHOTOS JEROD FOSTER/PECOS CVB UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

T R U E
68 W E ST

The Texas Rodeo Hall of Fame at the 1881 Texas and Pacific Railway Depot
is a centerpiece of the rodeo culture in Pecos, made famous by West of the
Pecos Rodeo, known as The Worlds First Rodeo!
Modern visitors find a town of 9,000
that holds fast to its frontier past. The
West of the Pecos Rodeo in June offers
four nights of cowboy action at Buck
Jackson Arena. It also provides a whiff of
controversy by dubbing itself the Wests
oldest rodeo, begun in 1883.
The claim causes indigestion in Western
towns that make the same boast. The
matter boiled over in 1985 when the board
game Trivial Pursuit named Prescott,
Arizona, as the place where rodeo was
formalized, and Pecos threatened to sue,
according to The New York Times. Trivial
Pursuit held firm and so did Pecos.
Well back away from that fight, hands
raised. Suffice it to say, proud Pecos
makes a strong case and dearly loves
its rodeo.
The town is also partial to cantaloupe.
Some call the locally grown variety the
sweetest in the world. The Night in Old
Pecos Festival takes place in July, along
with a show featuring a variety of
cantaloupe-based foodsbrownies, jelly,
smoothies, soup.
Pecos Mayor Venetta Seals has won best-
in-show for her cantaloupe salsa, made
with sweetened jalapeo. Oh, mama! If you
visit in May, be alert for sidewinders selling
knockoffs from trucks on Highway 285.
Remember that Pecos cantaloupes
dont come in until late June or July, says
120 E. Dot Stafford Street
Pecos, Texas 79772
Western Heritage Museum
Historic 1896 Saloon & 1904 Hotel
50 plus rooms of Western Exhibits
Gift Shop & Book Store
Centennial Park
Judge Roy Bean Replica
Gunfighter Clay Allison Grave
~Museum Hours~
Labor Day to Memorial Day
Tues.-Sat. 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Memorial Day to Labor Day
Mon. - Sat 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Seals. Our cantaloupes are so good we Sun. 1:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
dont like imposters. 432.445.5076
The food show is usually held at the
West of the Pecos Museum, at Forest and WestOf ThePecosMuseum.com
Cedar streets. The building started as the
Number 11 Saloon, with bedrooms upstairs.
A third floor was added in 1904, when it
became the Orient Hotel.
The museum today is housed in the old
Orienta three-story, red sandstone
structure with 50 rooms of exhibits and
artifacts.
Robert Clay Allisons grave has been a
conversation piece in Pecos since he was
reinterred in Centennial Park in 1975.
While fast with a gun, he didnt die
in a shoot-out, but in a wagon
accident in 1887.
T R U E
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Every June, the West of the Pecos
Rodeo, founded in 1883, celebrates the
Western heritage that Pecos Chamber and
Visitor Bureau Director Lupe Davis says
represents our rich, wild heritage.
Director and Curator Dorinda Millan says
visitors love seeing the Number 11 Saloons
ornate bar and huge liquor cabinet, bullet
holes from past dustups, and the pressed-in
ceilings in the lobby and hotel dining room.
The park next door has the grave of wild
man Clay Allison. He called himself a
shootist rather than gunfighter, but his
enemies failed to appreciate the distinction.
For a terrific day trip, drive 75 miles to
Fort Davis National Historic Site. One of the
frontiers best-preserved forts, it once had
more than 100 structures and quarters for
400 soldiers. It operated from 1854 until 1891.
Today, five buildings have been restored.
Visitors step inside the barracks to see iron
bunks, footlockers, carbine racks, clothing
and other artifacts from when Buffalo
Soldiers were headquartered there. See the
authentic commanding officers quarters,
furnished circa 1882.
Fifty-three miles from Pecos, visit the
Annie Riggs Museum in Fort Stockton. The
13-room territorial adobe with wraparound
verandas has a video on fort history and
artifacts like a cast-iron bed from Sears
and Roebuck. Cost: $6.75, including
freight.
T R U E
70 W E ST
The museum, originally a boardinghouse,
has Annies rules still posted. No spitting on
the floor, please.
For a break from the dry prairie, drive to
the incongruous oasis of Balmorhea State
Park. When the Apaches watered horses
there in the 1840s, the area was called
Mescalero Springs. Mexican farmers named
it San Solomon Springs.
The crystal-clear water rises through
natural faults at 15 million gallons per day,
the temperature steady at 72 to 76 degrees.
The desert wetland makes a delightful
getaway for swimmers, hikers, nature lovers,
even scuba divers.
Leo W. Banks is an award-winning writer based
in Tucson. He has written several books of history for
Arizona Highways.
WHERE
HISTORY MEETS
THE HIGHWAY
Pecos Area Chamber of Commerce &
Convention and Visitors Bureau.
THINGS TO DO
To plan your trip, consult the Pecos Area
Chamber of Commerce & Convention and
Visitors Bureau, located in the Texas and Pacific
Railroad Depot (above).
VisitPecos.com
TEXAS RODEO HALL OF FAME
Housed in the refurbished 1881 Texas and
Pacific Railway Depot, the hall features photos
and exhibits on the lives of its honorees and the
sport that defines the community.
TexasRodeoHallOfFame.com
WEST OF THE PECOS MUSEUM
Housed in the old Orient Hotel, it has numerous
exhibits of frontier life. The railroad room holds
memorabilia dating from 1881 to 1909, and
the saddle room has period saddles and tack.
Right outside the museum, dont miss the
1881 Mesquite House. Originally located at the
crossing on the Pecos River, its believed to be
the oldest house in town.
WestOfThePecosMuseum.com
FORT STOCKTON
Established as Camp Stockton in 1858 and
abandoned in 1886, the fort once had 35
buildings and is today listed on the National
Register of Historic Sites. Reliable water from
nearby Comanche Springs made it a popular
stopover for westbound settlers. See period
photos in the museum gift shop. Open six days
a week. Small admission fee.
HistoricFortStocktonTX.com
FORT DAVIS NATIONAL
HISTORIC SITE
Beautifully preserved in a beautiful location, the
Davis Mountains, this fort tells important stories,
from the Buffalo Soldiers to the protection of
wagon trains headed west. The 523-acre site
includes interpretive displays, a book shop and
museum. Self-guided tours daily.
NPS.GOV
TRUE WESTS ULTIMATE

T R U E
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HISTORIC TRAVEL GUIDE
BY STUART ROSEBROOK

DISCOVER WHERE
HISTORY HAPPENED AND
EXPERIENCE AN
OLD WEST ADVENTURE
OF A LIFETIME.
Ocian in view! Oh! The Joy!, William Clark
wrote in his journal on November 7, 1805 as
he viewed what he believed was the Pacific
Ocean, as the Corps of Discovery reached the
broad estuary of the Columbia River, 20 miles
from the coast.

Clarks exhilaration on reaching the destination

the Corps had dreamed of for thousands of
treacherous miles is the pure emotion of joy
that the editors of True West believe our
readerswhether first-time visitors or
seasoned Western adventurersdiscover, and
rediscover, when they travel across the
American West.

True Wests Ultimate Travel Guide encourages

treks to the Wests greatest heritage sites, where
you can actually stand and experience where
history happened. The editorial staff at True West
invites you to saddle up and travel with us to
discover the West togetherin the hope well
inspire your own ultimate Western adventure
and to make some history of your own.

MAP BY KEVIN KIBSEY

T R U E
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Yosemite National Park, California.
COURTESY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Copyright Free Vector Maps.com
The Pacific
Coast
California, Idaho,
Nevada, Oregon and
Washington
From the Sierra Nevada to the San Juan Islands, from
the Columbia River Gorge to Death Valley, the Pacific
Coast Region is a land of vast horizons, deep, lush
valleys and long snowcapped mountain ranges. The
natural beauty, vast distances and diversity of the
geology and history of the five states inspire
wonderment and admiration for those who lived,
explored and settled the region in the centuries before
trains, automobiles and airplanes. The heritage of the
area is defined by the Pacific Ocean, seemingly endless
mountain ranges and the continents most arid deserts.
The Pacific Coast Region is home to dozens of the
nations most recognizable parks, monuments and
historic sites, and travelers to the five states find
themselves following the trails of explorers, adventurers
and pioneers, while walking in the footsteps of
missionaries, mountain men and miners.
T R U E
74 W E ST
California
Bodie State Historic Park
Visitors who walk the silent streets of Bodie State
Historic Park, set amidst the sagebrush of the
Sierra Nevada foothills northeast of Yosemite, will
discover the real West amid the 170 buildings that
remain preserved in one of Californias most
notorious mining camps.
The park is northeast of Yosemite, 13 miles east of Highway 395
on Bodie Road (Hwy 270), seven miles south of Bridgeport.
760-647-6445 Parks.CA.gov
Death Valley National Park
Founded as a monument in 1933, Death Valley
National Parks 3.33 million acres in California and
Nevada make it the largest park outside of Alaska. Start
your tour at the Furnace Creek Visitor Center to visit the
nearby Harmony Borax Works and learn about the
mineral bonanza that inspired the iconic 20-mule team
borax wagons.
Highway 190, Death Valley, CA 92328
760-786-3200 NPS.gov
Donner Memorial State Park
Honoring the tragic emigrant party, Donner Memorial
State Park in Donner Pass includes a museum in the
visitors center, and a monument dedicated to all the
pioneers who traveled to the Golden State on the
California Trail.
9 miles west of Truckee, California
530-582-7892 Parks.CA.gov
El Alisal
Famed author and Western preservationist Charles F.
Lummis hand-built his famed stone-cobbled home in
northeast Los Angeles in the late 1890s and early
1900s. Follow up a Lummis house tour with a visit to
the Autry Museum of the American West in nearby
Griffith Park, and on Saturdays only, Lummiss Historic
Southwest Museum in Mt. Washington.
200 E Ave 43, Los Angeles, CA 90031
323-661-9465 LAPARKS.org/Autry.org
Fort Humboldt State Historic Park
Founded in 1853, the outpost was once led by Capt.
U.S. Grant, who found it so isolating he left the army
after his posting at Humboldt. Shuttered in 1870, the
fort today is open to visitors who can walk the grounds,
including the last surviving buildingthe hospital, now
a museum dedicated to army life and local tribal history.
3431 Fort Ave, Eureka, CA 95503
707-445-6547 Parks.CA.gov
Lava Beds National Monument
Near the Oregon border east of Yreka, California, and
south of Klamath Falls, Oregon, Lava Beds National
Monument protects the battle sites of the Modoc War,
including Captain Jacks Stronghold.
1 Indian Well Campground Trail
Indian Well Hqts, CA 96134 530-667-8100 NPS.gov
Lone Pine
Situated along the Eastern Sierras Main Street U.S.
Highway 395, Lone Pine is a historic community first
settled in the 1860s. In 1920, Hollywood producers
filmed the Western The Last Roundup in Lone Pine,
and since then over 400 movies and 100 television
programs have been produced in and around the
distinctive Alabama Hills.
120 South Main St, Lone Pine, CA 93545
760-876-4444 LonePineFilmHistoryMuseum.org
Marshall Gold Discovery
State Park
In the heart of Mother Lode country, Marshall Gold
Discovery State Park near Caloma preserves the site
where James W. Marshall found gold in the tailings of
Sutters Mill in January 1848. A living history center,
the park includes Marshalls cabin and a replica of the
original mill. Rangers and docents provide daily
programs at the park. Visitors can even pan for gold.
310 Back St, Coloma, CA 95613
530-622-3470 Parks.CA.gov
Old Sacramento
A national historic landmark district and state historic
park, Old Sacramento is a living history center on the
banks of the Sacramento River. Visitors can tour the
California State Railroad Museum, The Delta King
Riverboat, Huntington & Hopkins Hardware, Old
Sacramento Schoolhouse Museum, Sacramento
History Museum and the Wells Fargo History Museum.
Passenger train rides can be enjoyed on the California
State Railroad Museums Sacramento Southern
Railroad, which departs from the reconstructed
Central Pacific Freight Depot.
2nd St & Capitol Mall, Sacramento, CA 95814
916-808-7059 OldSacramento.com
Old Town San Diego State Historic Park
Old Town San Diego State Historic Park celebrates
and preserves the Spanish, Mexican and early
American heritage of the city. Five original adobe
buildings survive in the living history center.
Dont miss an opportunity to stay and dine at
the historic Cosmopolitan Hotel.
4002 Wallace St, San Diego, CA 92110
619-220-5422 Parks.CA.gov
Presidio of San Francisco
For 218 years, Spain, Mexico and then the
United States, garrisoned troops at the Presidio
of San Francisco. An active military post until 1994,
the Presidio is part of the Golden Gate National
Recreation Area. Artillery and military architecture
buffs will want to tour one of the nations finest
collections of field armaments and historic buildings
at any military park in the U.S.
California Hwy 1, San Francisco, CA 94123
415-561-4700 NPS.gov
San Gabriel Mission
Padre Junipero Serras fourth mission, San Gabriel,
was founded strategically between San Diego
and San Carlos Borromeo in Monterey on
September 8, 1771, and has been an active
parish for 245 years. Visitors should tour the
museum and follow the self-guided tours of
the historic church and groundsthe same
oasis that mountain man Jedediah Smith arrived
Lava Beds National Monument
Fort Humboldt State Park
Marshall Gold State
Discovery State Park
Sutters Fort State Historic Park
Sacramento
Sonoma Barracks Bodie State Historic Park
San Francisco
Presidio of San Francisco
National Park
Yosemite National Park, Yosemite Valley
Fresno
Santa Barbara
STATE MAPS BY REBECCA EDWARDS
at in 1826 after crossing the Mojave
Desert from the east.
254 S Santa Anita St, San Gabriel, CA 91776
626-282-3181 SanGabrielMissionChurch.org
Sonoma Barracks
The California Bear Flag Revolt began in
June 1846 at the Sonoma Barracks. The
restored barracks, across the street from
Sonomas Mission San Francisco Solano, are
a part of a park complex that includes
General Mariano Guadalupe Vallejos home,
the Toscano Hotel, the Servants Quarters
and the Blue Wing Inn.
Spain Street & First Street East, Sonoma, CA 95476
707-935-6832 Parks.CA.gov
Sutters Fort State Historic Park
In 1839, Swiss pioneer John Sutter received
a land grant from Mexico to build a
community he called New Helvetia near the
confluence of the Sacramento and
American rivers. Today, visitors can tour
Sutters Fort State Historic Park, a living
history center that includes the one of the
most significant historic structures in the state, the
fully restored Sutters Fort.
2701 L St, Sacramento, CA 95816
916-445-4422 Parks.CA.gov
Donner Pass
Yosemite National Park, Tioga Pass
Lone Pine
Death Valley National Park
Bakersfield
William S. Hart Ranch & Museum
El Alisal
San Gabriel Mission
Los Angeles
Old Town
San Diego
San Diego
Coeur d Alene Old Mission State Park
Wallace
Moscow
Nez Perce
National Historic Park
Salmon
Yankee Fork State Park
Idaho City
Boise
Old Fort Boise Rock Creek Station
Idaho Falls
Fort Hall Replica
William S. Hart Ranch and Museum
Silent movie star William S. Harts Spanish Colonial
Revival-style mansion, built on his ranch in 1910 in
Newhall, north of Los Angeles, is dedicated to Harts life
in the movies. Hart is famous for saying: When I was
making pictures, the people gave me their nickels,
dimes and quarters. When I am gone, I want them to
have my home.
24151 Newhall Ave, Newhall, CA 91321
661-254-4584 HartMuseum.org
Yosemite National Park
On June 30, 1864, President Abraham Lincoln signed
the Yosemite Grant, protecting Yosemite Valley and the
Mariposa Grove. A national park since 1890, Yosemite
was a favorite of naturalist John Muir and President
Theodore Roosevelt, and was originally patrolled by the
U.S. Cavalry.
PO Box 577 Yosemite National Park, CA 95389
209-372-0200 NPS.gov
Idaho
Fort Hall Replica
New England entrepreneur Nathaniel Wyeth built Fort
Hall in 1832 to support his fur trade business. The fort
evolved to become a key crossroads and supply center
on the Oregon Trail. Today, Fort Hall Replica, the
gateway to the Pacific, is a living history center
dedicated to Indian, fur trade and Oregon Trail history.
3000 Avenue of the Chiefs, Pocatello, ID 83204
208-234-1795 FortHall.net
Idaho City
In Boise Basin, Idaho City was the Queen of the Gold
Camps, the center of the richest gold strikes in the
history of the American Northwest in the 1860s. Today,
visitors to the village can walk the boardwalks of the
boomtown and visit numerous historic buildings,
including the Boise Basin Historical Museum housed in
the original post office built in 1867.
208-392-4159 IdahoCity.org
T R U E
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 Fort Clatsop, Lewis & Clark
National Historic Park Fort Stevens State Park
Astoria

Nez Perce National Historical Park
A multi-state national park, Nez Perce National
National Historic Trail on U.S. 93. A
traditional home of the Shoshone tribe, Pioneer Courthouse
Historic Oregon City
Portland The Dalles
the City of Salmons Sacajawea
Historical Park has six sites in Idaho, as well. The
Spalding Site, near Lapwai, is the headquarters of the
Interpretive, Cultural and Educational Salem Pendleton
Center is dedicated to the heritage and
park, and has visitors center and museum. history of the region. Oregon Trail National Trail Center
39063 U.S. 95, Lapwai, ID 83540 208-843-7009 NPS.gov
208-756-2100 VisitSalmonValley.com

Old Fort Boise Wallace

Originally a Hudson Bay outpost at the confluence of
the Boise and Snake rivers, a small monument marks
the site of the Old Fort Boise in the Fort Boise Wildlife
Management Area. A replica of the old fort was built
as a living history center in Parma, and includes a
museum and a pioneer cabin.
Parma, ID 83660 208-722-5210 OldFortBoise.com
Coeur d Alenes Old Mission State Park
Built by Catholic Jesuit missionaries and local Coeur
d Alene Indians between 1850 and 1853, the
Mission of the Sacred Heart at Coeur d Alenes Old
Mission State Park is the oldest building in Idaho.
Tour the mission, a restored parish house and the
historic cemetery. Exhibits interpret the history of
Catholic missionary efforts in the Rocky Mountains.
3715 E 3200 N, Hansen, ID 83334
208-432-4000
ParksAndRecreation.Idaho.gov
Rock Creek Station
An Idaho Historical Society living history center, Rock
Creek Station and the Stricker Home were built in
1865. An important transportation hub along the
Oregon Trail south of Hansen, the historic trail stop also
includes a pioneer cemetery and interpretive center.
3715 E 3200 N, Hansen, ID 83334
208-432-4000 History.Idaho.gov
Salmon
Salmon is a jewel in the valley near the confluence of
the Salmon and Lehmi rivers along the Lewis and Clark
California Trail Interpretive Center
Reno Fort Churchill State
Virginia City
Historic Park
Carson City
Carson City Historic District
Ward Charcoal Ovens
State Historic Park
Tonapah Historic Mining Park
Las Vegas
Old Las Vegas
Mormon Fort
Located in the richest silver district in
American history, Wallace is in the Silver
Valley of Shoshone County in Idahos
northern panhandle. Start your walking
tour of the Wallace Historic District at the
Wallace District Mining Museum, and
continue on to the Oasis Bordello Museum and the
Northern Pacific Depot Museum. Dont leave town
without taking the Sierra Silver Mine Tour.
208-753-7151 Wallace-ID.com
Land of Yankee Fork State Park
One of Idahos premier historic state parks, Land of
Yankee Fork State Park in Round Valley has numerous
historic sites, including three ghost townsBayhorse,
Bonanza and Custerand the Yankee Fork Gold
Dredge; plus the Shoshone Indian mid-1800s Challis
Bison Kill site. Visitors should start in Challis at the
interpretive center before touring the park.
Junction of US 93 and SH 75, Challis, ID
208-879-5244 ParksAndRecreation.Idaho.gov
Nevada
California Trail Interpretive Center
Ever wondered what it was like to cross the nation in
a Conestoga wagon? Or walk across the continent to
find your bonanza of gold in California? The
California Trail Interpretive Center near Elko will
answer all your questions with outstanding
exhibitions and regular living history events.
1 Interpretive Center Way, Elko, NV 89801
775-738-1849 CaliforniaTrailCenter.org
Carson City Historic District
Named after famed Westerner Kit Carson by
the citys founder Abraham V.Z. Curry in 1858,
Carson City quickly became a crossroads of
emigrants, prospectors, soldiers and
entrepreneurs following the California Trail.
Chosen as the territorial capital city in 1861,
Carson City has one of the most extensive
historic districts, including the Capitol grounds,
Nevada State Railroad Museum and Nevada
State Museum in the former U.S. Mint, and a
neighborhood of the Silver States 19th-century
homes, which visitors can enjoy by taking the
self-guided Blue Line Trail. Day trips from
Carson City should include visits to Nevadas
oldest settlement, Genoa, and the historic town
of Dayton.
775-577-2345 VisitCarsonCity.com
Fort Churchill State Historic Park
When settlement expanded in Nevada in the
late 1850s, the Army built a series of forts
across the Central Overland Route in the
Klamath Falls
territory to protect settlers, mail carriers, freight trains
and emigrants traveling the new central route across
the Great Basin. Fort Churchill State Historic Park has
an excellent walking tour of the ruins of the fort,
which was posted with troops from 1860 to 1869.
Silver Springs, NV 89429 775-577-2345 Parks.NV.gov
Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort
State Historic Park
In the shadow of the neon lights and towering casinos
of the Las Vegas Strip stands Old Las Vegas Mormon
Fort State Historic Park, an Old West living history
center dedicated to the Mormon missionaries
community built in 1855. While the first American
settlement at Vegas Springs only lasted until 1857, the
settlement left behind became the humble beginnings
of the internationally famous desert city.
500 E Washington Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89101
702-486-3511 Parks.NV.gov
Tonapah Historic Mining Park
Interested in Old West mining history? Take a slow
drive from Las Vegas to the Tonapah Historic Mining
Park on U.S. 95 and plan on numerous stops at the
ghost towns of Rhyolite near Beatty, Gold Point near
Lida, and Goldfield and Belmont outside of Tonapah.
In addition to the mining park, Tonapah also has a
walking tour of its historic buildings.
110 Burro Ave, Tonopah, NV 89049
775-482-9274 TonapahHistoricMiningPark.com
Virginia City
In the desert hills between Reno and Carson City, one
of the richest silver strikes in U.S. history, the
Comstock Lode, rocketed Nevada from territory to
statehood. Today, Virginia City is a virtual Victorian-era
heritage center, with numerous historic sites,
museums and buildings. Dont miss the Storey County
Courthouse, Piper Opera House, Virginia & Truckee
Railroad, the Comstock Mill, Ponderosa Mine Tour,
Mark Twain Museum and the Comstock Fire Museum.
A great way to see the historic mining camp is aboard
the Virginia City Trolley tour.
775-847-1114 VirginiaCityNV.com
Ward Charcoal Ovens State Historic Park
After visiting the historic mining community of Ely,
Nevada, located on U.S. 50 (the loneliest road in
America), including an excursion on the historic
passenger trains of the Nevada Northern Railway
Museum, travel southeast to a unique site from

T R U E
76 W E ST
 AT Pro: Better Finds,
and Special Savings
Nevadas storied mining historythe Ward
Charcoal Ovens. The thirty-foot-high kilns were
built to support the smelting operations of lead in
the long-gone mining town of Ward.
Ely, NV 89315 775-289-1693 Parks.NV.gov

Oregon
The Dalles
A tribal fishing center and crossroads of the
Columbia River history for centuries, The Dalles
developed as an American community at the
terminus of the Oregon Trail and launching point for
emigrant rafting parties down the river to the
Willamette River Valley. While an alternate overland
route was built over the Blue Mountains and around
Mt. Hood to Oregon City, The Dalles remained an
important economic and transportation hub. Today,
Garretts AT Pro is
visitors should begin their visit at Fort Dalles and waterproof to 10 feet!
then tour the world-class Columbia River Gorge
Discovery Center.
404 W. 2nd St, The Dalles, OR 97058 541-296-2231
TheDallesChamber.com/HistoricTheDalles.org

Fort Clatsop National Memorial

Lewis and Clark National Historical Park has sites
on both sides of the Columbia River in Oregon
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historic port city Astoria, is the replica of the fort Garrett Master Sound Headphones
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the summer and a visitors center. Garrett Camo Backpack
92343 Fort Clatsop Rd, Astoria, OR 97103 Garrett Camo Diggers Pouch
503- 861-2471 NPS.gov
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Fort Stevens State Park Garrett Camo AT Pro Cap
At the mouth of the Columbia River, a visitor to
Fort Stevens State Park can watch the modern
ships ply the Columbia River Bar, one of the most
treacherous navigations that has claimed over
2,000 ships, earning it the moniker graveyard of
Save
the Pacific. Because it was an active fort from
the Civil War through World War II, a tour of the
parks historic sites reveals Fort Stevens nearly
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Astorias Columbia River Maritime Museum to
learn about the dramatic history of sailing and
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100 Peter Iredale Rd, Hammond, OR 97121
503-861-3170 OregonStateParks.org/CRMM.org

Historic Oregon City

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who survived the transcontinental trip and the
final legthe descent over the Cascade Range * AT Pro MSRP $699.95. Savings based on total cost of detector and accessory items if purchased separately. Accessories
items are subject to change. Available at participating U.S. dealers from September 1 to December 31, 2016.
past Mt. Hood into the Willamette Valley. Tour the
Visitor Center, End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive
Center, the Country Store and the Heritage
Garden. While in Oregon City, plan on extra time MADE IN
to visit the historic Barclay, McLoughlin and THE USA

Holmes Houses, and tour downtown. Visit garrett.com to find your nearest dealer
1726 Washington St, Oregon City, OR 97405
503-657-9336 HistoricOregonCity.org/NPS.gov

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 San Juan Island
National Historical Park
Oregon Trail National Trail Center comprehensive exhibits on
the heritage, history and
Near Baker City, the Bureau of Land Managements diverse cultures that have Klondike Gold Rush
Oregon Trail National Trail Center is dedicated to
interpreting history through exhibits and ranger-led
defined Oregon history.
700 SW 6th Ave, Portland, OR 97204
National Historical Park
Olympia Seattle Spokane
programs, many in period costume, explaining the
503-833-5300
history and experiences of the thousands of PioneerCourthouse.org Fort Columbia State
emigrants who made the overland journey across the Historical Park Steptoe Battlefield
country on the Oregon Trail. State Park
22267 OR-86, Baker City, OR 97814
541-523-1843 OregonTrail.BLM.gov
Washington Cape Disappointment
State Park
Vancouver
Whitman Mission
National Historic Site

Cape Disappointment Fort Vancouver National Historic Site Walla Walla

Pendleton
Pendleton is world famous for the Pendleton Round-Up,
a rodeo equally known for its action in the arena as well
as its dedication to the local Indian cultures and
American settlement history of the Umatilla River Valley.
Visitors will enjoy touring the Pendleton Woolen Mills,
Round-Up and Happy Canyon Hall of Fame Museum,
Heritage Station Museum and Tamstslikt Cultural
Institute. Before leaving town, dont miss Hamleys &
Co., a famous saddle and Western wear shop
downtown, in business since 1883.
501 S. Main, Pendleton, OR 97801
541-276-7411 TravelPendleton.com
Pioneer Courthouse
The oldest federal building in the Pacific Northwest
and second-oldest west of the Mississippi, the
Pioneer Courthouse in Pioneer Square in Portland was
started in 1869. Just down the street is the Oregon
Historical Society Museum, with the most
State Park
On Washingtons Long
Beach Peninsula at the
mouth of the Columbia River across from Fort
Stevens State Park in Oregon, Cape Disappointment
State Park is a beautiful place to walk in the
footsteps of Lewis and Clarks Corps of Discovery.
Take a tour of the Lewis and Clark Interpretive
Center and learn about their expedition and local
Native culture. Also, dont miss a hike out to the
North Head Lighthouse, built in 1897-98, that is
still aiding ships navigating the Columbia River Bar.
244 Robert Gray Dr, Ilwaco, WA 98624
360-642-3078 Parks.WA.gov
Fort Columbia State Historical Park
East of Cape Disappointment and part of the national
and state park consortium of the Lewis and Clark
National Historical Park, Columbia State Historical Park
at the Chinook Point Historical Landmark was a U.S.
Army Coastal Artillery fort from 1896 to 1947. Visitors
will enjoy touring the historic officers house, the
observation station and an interpretive center.
612 E. Reserve St, Vancouver, WA 98661
360- 816-6230 Parks.WA.gov
Fort Vancouver National Historic Site
Fort Vancouver National Historic Site in Vancouver,
Washington, is a significant British and American
outpost in the Northwest. The English Hudson Bay
Company built the fort in 1824 and until the 1840s it
was the largest European community on the West
Coast. The U.S. Army occupied the fort in 1849 and
until 2011 maintained an Army Reserve and
Washington National Guard unit at the base. Visitors

Butch Cassidy
Depot Museum

UW Geology museum
10
OVER

western history museums & monuments

Ames Monument (Highest elevation on the Union Pacific Railroad)
Laramie Plains Museum (Showcasing local area artifacts)
Wildlife
Ames Monument

Lincoln Monument

Laramie Railroad Depot (Snow train display and Garfield St. Footbridge)
Nici Self Museum (Centennial Depot and Museum)
Lincoln Monument Museum (Highway 30 and the Lincoln Highway)
UW Anthropology Museum (Native American Artifacts) Mountain Men
Louisa Swain UW Art
A Museum and the American Heritage Center Jacque s La Ramee
Firstwoman to vote! (Houses historical artifacts like the Cisco Kids and Hopalong Cassidys Saddle)
UW Geology Museum (Some of the first dinosaurs to be discovered in the world)
Wyoming Territorial Prison (Housed famous outlaw Butch Cassidy)
Womens History House (Louisa Swain first woman to vote!)

Laramie,Wyoming - Book online H i s t o ry & A dv e n t u r e

ALBANY Centennial Rock River Woods Landing
Download maps and brochures!
www.visitlaramie.org 1-800-445-5303
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will enjoy the museum and living history programs,
which tell the fascinating story of the fur trade and
settlement of the Northwest.
612 E. Reserve St, Vancouver, WA 98661
360-816-6230 Northwest. NPS.gov
Klondike Gold Rush
National Historical Park
The Seattle unit of the Klondike Gold Rush National
Historical Park complements the parks sites in
Skagway, Alaska, in interpreting the 1898 gold rush that
was the greatest mineral bonanza on the West Coast
since the California Gold Rush of 1849. The parks
visitors center, located within the Pioneer Square
National Historic District in downtown Seattle, has a
series of permanent and temporary exhibitions
interpreting the history of the stampede to the Klondike,
as well as walking tours, and living history programs.
319 2nd Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104 206-220-4240 NPS.gov
San Juan Island National Historical Park
Located in Puget Sound, San Juan Island National
Historical Park interprets the conflict that almost drew
Great Britain and the United States into war over the
death of a pig in 1859. The American Camp Visitor
Center and the English Camp Visitor Center provide
historical interpretation of the history of the island and
the international dispute over the San Juan Islands.
4668 Cattle Point Road, Friday Harbor, WA 98250
360-378-2240 NPS.gov
Steptoe Battlefield State Park
The Steptoe Battlefield State Park commemorates a Great Reads:
May 1858 battle between Colonel Edward Steptoes Stephen Ambroses Undaunted Courage:
U.S. troops and a combined force of Spokane,
Palouse, Coeur dAlene, and Yakama tribes. The 160 Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the
soldiers, on a march from Fort Walla Walla to Fort Opening of the American West
Colville, were surprised by the Indians and forced to
retreat through a series of skirmishes, barely
Will Bagleys So Rugged
escaping. The four-acre park near Rosalia has a and Mountainous:
monument to the battle and interpretive signs telling Blazing the Trails to
the story of the conflict. Oregon and California,
S. Summit Loop, Rosalia, WA 99170 18121848
509-337-6457 Parks.WA.gov
Steven W. Hackels
Whitman Mission National Historic Site Junipero Serra:
The Whitman Mission National Historic Site preserves Californias Founding
and interprets the location of a significant settlement Father
and event in U.S. Western history. One of Oregon
Territorys first emigrant parties from the Eastern United Mark Twains
States were Methodist missionaries Dr. Marcus and Roughing It
Mrs. Narcissa Prentiss Whitman, who arrived in 1836.
The Whitmans Mission was the site of the Whitman
Massacre in 1847, a controversial event that
dramatically changed the course of history in the
Classic Films & TV
American Northwest between settlers and local tribes. Death Valley Days
After touring the mission grounds, take a short drive to
Bonanza
Walla Walla and tour Fort Walla Walla Museum for
interactive exhibits and living history programs on the I Will Fight No More Forever
fort and regions history. The Big Trail
328 Whitman Mission Rd, Walla Walla, WA 99362
509-522-6360 NPS.gov/FWWM.org
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 Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona.
COURTESY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Copyright Free Vector Maps.com
The Desert
Southwest
Arizona, New Mexico,
Oklahoma and Texas
From the Grand Canyon to the Texas Gulf Coast, from
the Rio Grande River Valley to Oklahomas endless
grasslands, the Desert Southwest Region is a land of
sky islands, spectacular canyon lands, plains and
prairies, unforgiving deserts and rugged mountains. The
natural beauty, vast distances, and diversity of cultures
in the regions will inspire the visitor to gain a greater
understanding of how the aridity of the Sonoran and
Chihuahuan deserts has influenced the Indian, Hispanic
and American settlement of the region. The Desert
Southwest Region is home to many of the nations most
recognizable geologic landmarks, ancient pueblos,
monuments and historic sites, but also some of its
oldest Indian and Hispanic communities. Visitors to the
four states will quickly find themselves on the trails of
conquistadores and explorers, cowboys and cavalry, and
walking in the footsteps of ancient peoples, Indian
nations, homesteaders and prospectors.
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Arizona
Battle of Big Dry Wash Site
In July 1882, the last bloody battle between Army
regulars and the Apache tribe took place north of
Payson and is commemorated by a marker built in the
1930s by the U.S. Forest Service and the Civilian
Conservation Corps. To visit the battle site from
Payson, drive north on Highway 87 through Pine and
Strawberry to the Rim Road, Forest Road 300. Turn
right and drive east to the Battle of Big Dry Wash
Historical Marker near General Springs.
Battle of Big Dry Wash Site, Payson, AZ
928-472-5110 RimCountryMuseums.com
Camp Verde State Historic Park
Founded in 1865, Camp Verde State Historic Park is a
living history center that commemorates and honors
the history of the Army and the conflict with the
Yavapai and Western Apaches during the American
settlement of Central Arizona.
125 E Hollamon St, Camp Verde, AZ 86322
928-567-3275 AZStateParks.com
Canyon de Chelly National Monument
Located in the heart of the Navajo Reservation, Canyon
de Chelly National Monument is home to the traditional
clans who have lived in the specatacular canyon for
generations. Tour the national monument, above and
below the canyon, with special guided tours of the
park, and learn about the Canyons importance to
Navajo culture, and the tragic years during the tribes
incarceration at Bosque Redondo in New Mexico.
Fort Apache Historic Park
A key outpost during the U.S. Armys conflict with the
Apaches from the 1860s to the 1880s, today the White
Mountain Apache Tribe, with assistance from the Fort
Apache Heritage Foundation, maintains The Fort
Apache and Theodore Roosevelt National Historic
Landmark. With historical and cultural exhibitions on
tribal history, plus a museum shop the Nohwike
Bgowa (House of Our Footprints) Museum is open six
days a week, and on Sundays May through September.
127 Scout St, Fort Apache, AZ 85926
928-338-1392 FortApacheArizona.org
Fort Bowie National Historic Site
Located at Apache Springs near the national
stageroad in the heart of Chiricahua territory, Fort
Bowie National Historic Site can be reached by a short
hike across the Butterfield Trail, past the spring and
through the desert hills to a well-maintained set of the
forts ruins and a historic cemetery.
3500 South Apache Pass Rd, Bowie, AZ 85605
520-847-2500 NPS.gov
Fort Whipple
Founded in 1863, Fort Whipple was one of the armys
earliest outposts in central and northern Arizona
during the American post-Civil War settlement of the
Grand Canyon state. Gen. George Crook built the
Crook Trail from Whipple to Fort Apache during the
Yavapai War. Today, a historic museum is maintained
in a 1909 Officers home on the posts grounds,
which today is a V.A. Hospital for northern Arizona.
AZ-89, Prescott, AZ 86303 Sharlot.org
Grand Canyon National Park
The Grand Canyon is the traditional home and a
sacred site to the Havasupai, Hualapai, Navajo, Hopi
and Paiute Indians of northern Arizona. Grand Canyon
National Parks South Rim visitors center receives 5
million visitors annually. Dont miss the exhibition on
John Wesley Powells exploration of the Grand Canyon
and his epic 1869 river run on the Green-Colorado.
PO Box 129 Grand Canyon, AZ 86023
928-638-7888 NPS.gov
Holbrook
Founded in 1881 by the Santa Fe Railway, Holbrook
quickly gained a reputation as one of the toughest
towns in the Southwest. As the headquarters of the
infamous Aztec Land & Cattle Company, aka the
Hashknife Outfit, a walking/driving tour of the historic
town once patrolled by legendary lawman Sheriff
Commodore Perry Owens starts at the Historic
Navajo County Courthouse.
928-524-6558 CI.Holbrook.US.az
Picacho Peak State Historic Park
Just off Interstate 10, west of Casa Grande, the
picturesque Picacho Peak can be seen for miles in
every direction, a landmark for generations of travelers
and the site of the Western most battle of the Civil War
on April 15, 1862. Every March re-enactors gather and
entertain thousands with a re-enactment of three
battles: Picacho Peak, Glorieta and Val Verde, the latter
two fought in New Mexico.
Picacho, AZ 85141 520-466-3183 AZStateParks.com
 Kit Carson Home & Museum
Taos St. James Hotel
Prescott walk into history. Dont miss Fort Union National Monument
visiting in the National Historic
The historic and picturesque territorial capital of District Big Nose Kates
Palace of the Governors Las Vegas
Arizona, Prescott is the perfect town in which to take a
walk through state history. Start at Sharlot Hall, the
Saloon, the Crystal Palace,
C.S. Flys, O.K. Corral, the Bird
Santa Fe Battle of Glorieta Pass,
Pecos National Historical Park
living history center with numerous historic buildings, Cage Saloon, Rose Tree
including the Territorial Governors Home, and walk Museum, Good Enough Mine
El Morro
National Monument
Albuquerque
down Gurley to Prescotts historic Courthouse Square, Fort Sumner Historic Site
Underground Tour and the Fort Stanton Historic Site
where Solon Borglums Rough Riders bronze greets Tombstone Epitaph Museum
visitors to the park. Across the street take a walk down Lincoln
Montezuma, known as Whiskey Row, and visit the 888-457-3929 Fort Bayard National Historic Landmark
TombstoneChamber.com
historic Palace Saloon.
Fort Selden Historic Site
928-445-2000 Prescott.org Tubac Presidio State Pat Garrett Murder
Historic Park
Las Cruces Site Historical Marker
Queen Mine Mesilla
Long before the British, the
The centerpiece historical site in downtown Bisbee is Village of Columbus
Spanish Empire extended its
Phelps Dodges Queen Mine, one of the richest mineral & Camp Furlong
power around the globe
bonanzas in state history. Retired miners lead the
including to North Americas
underground tours that take visitors on trams deep into
Southwest including Arizonas
the copper mine. After touring the mine, dont miss an
Santa Cruz River Valley. In 1752, the Spanish crown Glorieta Battlefield hiking trail, ask the rangers at the
opportunity to walk through Bisbees historic district,
built Presidio San Agnacio de Tubac, the first permanent Pecos National Historical Park visitor center to provide
including a tour of the Bisbee Mining and Historical
European community in Arizona. Dont miss an you the gate code and a map.
Museum, and the legendary Copper Queen Hotel.
opportunity to hike on the Juan Bautista De Anza Trail:
478 N Dart Rd, Bisbee, AZ 85603 520-432-2071 NM-63, Pecos, NM 87552 NPS.gov
the state park is a trailhead for the 4.5-mile segment to
QueenMineTour.com/DiscoverBisbee.com
that leads to Tumacacori National Historical Park.
El Morro National Monument
1 Burruel St, Tubac, AZ 85646 520-398-2252
Slaughter Ranch AZStateParks.com/NPS.gov For centuries travelers across New Mexico would cite El
Texas John Slaughter was a legendary lawman and Morro as a key landmark on their trail north and south
rancher in southeastern Arizona during and after the Warren Earps Grave from the Pueblo communities along the Rio Grande and
Apache Wars and Earp-Cowboy feuds in Cochise New Spains settlements in Mexico. Many who paused
Warren Earp, the youngest brother of Virgil, Wyatt and and rested at the buttes watering hole and carved their
County in the late 19th century. Today his San
Morgan, is buried in the Willcox Cemetery not too far name into its sandstone face. With over 2,000
Bernardino Ranch is home to the Johnson Historical
from where he was gun downed by Johnny Boyette in documented inscriptions, El Morros importance from
Museum of Southern Arizona and adjacent to the San
Browns Saloon in 1900. After paying your respects at ancient times to the present is documented at the
Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge.
Warrens monument, enjoy a visit to a museum monuments visitor center and along the Inscription
6153 Geronimo Trail, Douglas, AZ 85607 dedicated to Cochise Countys very own, Rex Allen, at
520-678-7596 SlaughterRanch.com Trail to Inscription Rock, and the Headland Trail to
the Rex Allen Arizona Cowboy Museum & Willcox Atsinna, the 875-room pueblo ruin atop El Morro.
Cowboy Hall of Fame.
Tombstone 454 N. 3rd St., Willcox, AZ ExploreCochise.com
Ice Caves Rd, Grants, NM 87020 505-783-4226 NPS.gov
The town to tough to die, Tombstone is Arizonas
most infamous territorial mining camp and is known Fort Bayard National Historic Landmark
Yuma
internationally for the Earp-Clanton gunfight behind the Built in the territory of New Mexico east of Silver City in
O.K. Corral. Tour the Tombstone County Courthouse Near the confluence of the Gila and Colorado rivers, 1866, Fort Bayard was an army camp until 1900 when
State Historic Park, take a walk through Boothill the U.S. Army built a post at the strategic crossing of it became a military hospital. Adjacent to the former
Graveyard, and park at one end of Allen Street and the Colorado. Today the Yuma Quartermaster Depot hospital (closed in 2010) is the Fort Bayard National
State Historic Park provides a window into early Cemetery, opened in 1866, and operated by the
territorial settlement, steamboat Veterans Administration. The museum is open every
military, railroad and mining Monday, April through September and by appointment
history. Across the highway from only October through March.
the depot is the notorious Yuma
Territorial Prison State Historic 3rd St & D Ave, Fort Bayard, NM 575-956-3294
FortBayard.org/SilverCityTourism.org
Park, once one of the most
Canyon de Chelly
Grand Canyon National Park feared prisons in the Old West.
National Monument Fort Selden Historic Site
201 N 4th Ave, Yuma, AZ 85364
Built in 1865 along the Rio Grande River in the
Flagstaff Holbrook 928-783-0071 VisitYuma.com
AZStateParks.com Mesilla Valley, Fort Selden was an important army
post in the Southwestern Apache wars until its closure
Prescott in 1891. Fort Selden Historic Site is just ten miles
New Mexico
Fort Whipple
Camp Verde State Historic Park north of Las Cruces, where visitors can tour the visitor
center, walk through the adobe ruins and enjoy
Battle of Big Dry Wash Site
Battle of Glorieta Pass, occasional living history events with re-enactors in
Quartermaster's Depot
State Historic Park PhoenixFort Apache Historic Park Pecos National period dress on weekends during the summer.
Historical Park 1233 Fort Selden Rd, Las Cruces, NM 88007
Yuma Picacho Peak State Historic Park A separate unit from the main
575-647-9585 NMHistoricsites.org
Yuma Territorial Prison visitor center of Pecos National
State Historic Park Fort Stanton Historic Site
Historical Park, the Battle of
Tucson Glorieta Pass commemorates Built in 1855, Fort Stanton was a key territorial outpost
Warren Earps Grave Fort Bowie National Historic Site the key battle between New in the armys war with the Mescalero Apache tribe
Tombstone until its closure in 1896. The forts soldiers were also
Bisbee Queen Mine Mexico forces and the
Confederate army that had been called into service during local conflicts, including the
Tubac Presidio Slaughter Ranch attempting to secure Southern Lincoln County War between Billy the Kid and his
State Historic Park control over the Southwest. To Regulators fighting for the Tunstall-McSween faction
walk the parks 2.35-mile
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 and the Murphy-Dolan faction. Just ten miles from
Lincoln, visitors should start their tour at the one Fort
Stanton Museum before taking a walking tour of the
240-acre site, which has 88 historic buildings.
104 Kit Carson Rd, Fort Stanton, NM 88323
575-354-0341 NMHistoricsites.org
Fort Sumner Historic Site/Bosque
Redondo Memorial
During the Civil War, the U.S. fought a war with the
Navajo people that led to the tribes defeat and long
walk to incarceration adjacent to Fort Sumner at the
Bosque Redondo Reservation. The miserable
location for the 8,500 Navajos led the tribe to
negotiate a peace settlement that allowed the tribe
to return with sovereignty to their traditional lands in
the Four Corners region. Over 500 Mescalero
Apaches who had also been incarcerated at Bosque
Redondo fled the reservation in 1865. Visitors
Visit the should tour the museum and walk the Old Fort Site
Buffalo Soldiers and River Walk trails. The outlaw Billy the Kid was
killed in the town of Fort Sumner on July 14, 1881,
National Museum and is buried in the village cemetery.
3816 Caroline Houston, TX 77004
707 N 4th St, Fort Sumner, NM 88119
575-355-7705 NMHistoricsites.org
Hours of Operation:
Monday thru Friday 10:00 am until 5:00 pm Fort Union National Monument
Saturdays 10:00 am until 4:00 pm One of the most significant U.S. army posts in
Closed on Sunday eastern New Mexico, Fort Union National Monument
713.942.8920 preserves, protects and interprets the history of the
camp that was built at the crossroads of the Santa
Fe Trails Mountain and Cimarron Cut-off trails.
Re-enactors hold regular events at the monument
BuffaloSoldierMuseum.com and visitors will enjoy the many tours of the grounds
and the forts well-preserved ruins.
Nm-161, Ocate, NM 87734 505-425-8025 NPS.gov
Kit Carson Home and Museum
Located in the center of Taos, Kit Carsons family adobe
has been preserved as a museum that interprets his
dramaticand controversiallife as a mountain man,
explorer, trailblazer, soldier and family man.
113 Kit Carson Rd, Taos, NM 87571
575-758-4945 KitCarsonMuseum.org
Lincoln
In the annals of Western U.S. history, the humble
town of Lincolns notorious past is synonymous with
the violence that plagued the West, and especially
the New Mexico Territory after the Civil War. The
historic buildings in the center of town are managed,
interpreted and preserved as a New Mexico Historic
Site. Visitors can walk the streets of Lincoln and
stride in the footsteps of the Regulators, Billy the
Kid, Pat Garrett, John Tunstall, Alexander McSween,
Lawrence G. Murphy and James J. Dolan. Stay the
weekend at the Dolan House, Ellis Store or Wortley
Hotel. Tour the 17 historic structures, (call ahead for
scheduled openings), including the Old Lincoln
County Courthouse, the Tunstall Store, Montao
store, the 1850s stone Torreon, San Juan Mission
Church and the Anderson-Freeman Museum. Old
Lincoln Days are held every August and reenactors
entertain tourists with some of the most infamous
moments of the Lincoln County War, including Billys
dramatic escape from the Lincoln County Jail.
Highway 380 Mm 97.5, Lincoln,, NM 88338
575 653-4025 NMHistoricsites.org
Mesilla
Founded in 1848, Mesilla is one of the oldest
settlements on the southern Rio Grande River Valley
in New Mexico and was an important crossroads for
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territorial trade and travel on the El Camino Real and
Southern Overland Route of the Butterfield Stage
Line. Mesillas historic plaza is where U.S. troops from
Fort Fillmore raised the American flag after the
conclusion of the Gadsden Purchase in 1853. The
short-lived capital of the Confederacy in New Mexico
during the Civil War, in the 1870s and 1880s
Mesillas popular saloons and dance halls for
law-abiding citizens and outlaws, including Billy the
Kid. Visitors should tour the historic plaza (the Kid was
tried and sentenced to die in the historic building that
is home to the modern Billy the Kid Giftshop), the
local Gadsden Museum and the New Mexico Ranch &
Farm Museum in nearby Las Cruces.
2231 Avenida de Mesilla, Mesilla, NM 88046
575-524 3262 OldMesilla.org
Palace of the Governors
Built of adobe in the early 1600s as New Spains
seat of government in New Mexico, today it is the
states preeminent museum and archives of the city,
state and regions history. A Registered National
Historic Landmark and American Treasure, the
Palace of the Governors is the oldest occupied
public building in the United States. The New Mexico
History Museum opened next door to the Palace on
Santa Fes Historic Plaza in 2009 and is dedicated
to the ancient multi-cultural history of the Land of
Enchantment state.
105 W Palace Ave, Santa Fe, NM 87501 505) 476-5100
PalaceOfTheGovernors.org/NMHistoryMuseum.org
Pat Garrett Murder Site
Historical Marker
Sheriff Pat Garrett became famous for his killing of
Billy the Kid, but along the way the notorious and
controversial lawman made many enemies in many
powerful moneyed circles in the territory of New
Mexico. One morning, Garretts life ended violently,
much like he lived his own, and a marker
commemorates his assassination in Dona Ana County.
Jornada Rd & I-70 Service Rd., Las Cruces, NM
NMHistoricMarkers.org
St. James Hotel
In Cimarron, the historic St. James Hotel bears the
bullet holes in its ceiling as evidence of its Wild West
past as a Lamberts Saloon before the proprietors
expanded it into a popular hotel. Many well-known
Westerners traveling along the Santa Fe Railway
stopped for the night, including Buffalo Bill Cody,
who was a friend of the ownersFrench chef
Henri Lambert and his wife, Mary. Today, the historic
hotel welcomes guests to enjoy the vintage,
well-appointed rooms and a meal and drink at
the restaurant and saloon.
617 S. Collison Cimarron, NM 87714
575-376-2664 ExStJames.com
Village of Columbus/Camp Furlong
On March 9, 1916, Mexican revolutionary Gen.
Francisco Pancho Villa led a raid into the United
States across the border into the Village of Columbus
and past the troops stationed at Camp Furlong. With
nearly 500 Villistas riding hard wantonly through the
town, the revolutionaries set fire to downtown before
suffering dozens of losses. Today, the only attack on
U.S. soil by foreign invaders until 9/11 is
remembered at Pancho Villa State Park, the former
Camp Furlong from which Gen. Jack Pershing led
10,000 soldiers into Mexico in search of Villa.
224 Lima Ave, Columbus, NM 88029
575-531-0046 ColumbusNewMexico.com
 An authentic gold rush town born in 1863, now frozen in time.
Original buildings remain, once housed dry goods stores, gold assays,
crooked lawmen and Vigilante law, now are host to restaurants,
gift shops, museums, live theaters and more.

Some folks made a fortune here...

but what they left behind is priceless.
800.829.2969 w w w. v i rg i n i a c i t y. c o m

Oklahoma
101 Ranch Memorial
The internationally renowned Miller Brothers 101
Ranch Wild West Show, billed as The Greatest Show of
the West, toured the world from 1905 to 1939. During
the Miller Brothers heyday, the Oklahoma family empire
included vast land holdings, oil wells and international
fame. The 101 Ranch Old Timers Association owns 72
acres of the original ranch site and in 1996 opened the
public picnic area. Visit the E.W. Marlands Grand Home
Museum in Ponca City to see the official 101 Ranch
Collection and 101 Ranch Old Timers Association
Museum. Visit Ponca City in June to experience the
annual celebration since 1960 of the great 101 Ranch
Wild West Show at the 101 Ranch Rodeo.
On SH 156, 13 miles SW of Ponca City
101RanchOTA.com/KayCounty.info/MarlandGrandHome.com
Chisholm Trail Heritage Center
In Duncan, Oklahoma, The Chisholm Trail Heritage
Center is located north of the Red River along the
historic Chisholm Trail. An interactive museum with
regularly scheduled events activities inside the exhibit
hall and outside on the museums grounds, the
centerpiece of the Chisholm Trail Heritage Center is
the Garis Gallery of the American West. In addition to
the museums extraordinary Western art collection,
visitors will enjoy both permanent and temporary
exhibitions that celebrate the history and culture of
the Chisholm Trail, American cowboy and the West.
When walking the museum grounds, dont miss Paul
Moores On the Chisholm Trail bronze that greets
visitors at the entrance to the Heritage Center.
1000 Chisholm Trail Parkway Duncan, OK 73533
580-252-6692 OnTheChisholmTrail.com
Fort Gibson Historic Site
A national historic landmark, Fort Gibson dates to 1824
when the U.S. army began exploring the region. A key
post during the Indian Removal era it was closed in
1857. After the Civil War started the fort was reoccupied
and became a key military outpost until 1890. Tours
should start at the Commissary Visitor Center on
Garrison Hill and proceed through the reconstructed log
fort, and historic buildings constructed between the
1840s and 1870s. Visitors also enjoy reenactors leading
living history programs and events during the year.
110 E Ash Ave, Fort Gibson, OK 74434
918-478-4088 OKHistory.org
Fort Sill National
Historic Landmark & Museum
One of the most significant historical military museums
in Old West history, the Fort Sill National Historic
Landmark and Museum is dedicated to the
interpretation of nearly a century of American and
Indian history in the region, including the post-Civil War
engagements with the Southern Plains tribes. Fort Sill
was enlarged in 1894 when the Chiricahua Indians
imprisoned for nearly a decade in Florida and Alabama
were moved permanently to a reservation at the
military base. The interactive history facility boasts 38
buildings and curates over 235,000 objects at the
142-acre Historic Landmark. The museum is
completely dedicated to its historic era, while the US
Army Field Artillery Museum has been a separate
institution since 2008.
437 Quanah Rd, Fort Sill, OK 73503 918-478-4088
580-442-5123 Sill-WWW.Army.mil
Fort Supply Historic Site
Oklahoma
Territorial Museum
Washita Battlefield Guthrie
National Historic Site
National Cowboy Hall of Fame & Museum Oklahoma City Historic Site
Fort Sill National Historic Landmark & Museum
Chisholm Trail
Heritage Center
Fort Towson Historic Site
Fort Supply Historic Site
Founded out of necessity during the winter of 1868 to
support the armys war with the Southern Plains
tribes in Western Oklahoma, Fort Supply was a key
outpost in the Indian Territory for 25 years until its
closure in 1894. Today, five original buildings
including the 1875 and a replica of the 1868
stockade can be toured at the site. Visitors should
start at the restored and furnished 1892 brick
guardhouse, which houses Fort Supplys exhibitions.
1 William S Key Blvd, Fort Supply, OK 73841
580- 256-6136 OKHistory.org
Fort Towson Historic Site
Built in 1824 to protect early settler in the Arkansas
Territory, Fort Towson was a key border outpost between
Mexico and the United States prior to the Texas
Revolution. The Choctaw and Chickasaw encamped at
the fort before settlement in the Indian Territory, U.S
forces prepared for war against Mexico at the fort in
1846 before it was closed in 1856. The Confederate
army had its headquarters at the abandoned fort and in
1865 the final Southern surrender, by Gen. Stand Watie,
occurred at Fort Towson. Visitors can tour the Suttlers
Store, 18 interpretive sites on a walking tour, and enjoy
regularly scheduled living history demonstrations
throughout the year at the site of the historic fort.
896 N 4375 Rd, Fort Towson, OK 74735
580-873-2634 OKHistory.org
Honey Springs Battlefield Historic Site
North of Checotah and adjacent to Rentiesville, the
Honey Springs Battlefield Historic Site commemorates
and honors the largest of 107 engagements in the
Indian Territory during the Civil War. Visitors can walk
six different trails across the 1,100-acre park and
learn about the Battle of Honey Springs on July 17,
1863 at 55 interpretive sites. The Unions decisive
defeat of the Confederate forces has earned the battle
the nickname Gettysburg of the Indian Territory. A
new visitor center is under construction in Rentiesville.
101601 South 4232 Road Checotah, OK 74426
918-473-5572 OKHistory.org
National Cowboy Western
& Heritage Museum
Founded in 1955 in Oklahomas capital city, the
National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Museum is one of
the preeminent museums in the United States
dedicated to the cultural history and heritage of the
American West. Annually more than 10 million visitors
tour its Western art galleries, Old West and American
Indian history galleries, and its three hall of fames:
Hall of Great Westerners, Hall of Great Western
Performers and Rodeo Hall of Fame.
1700 NE 63rd St, Oklahoma City, OK 73111
405-478-2250 NationalCowboyMuseum.org
Oklahoma Territorial Museum
In Guthrie, the Oklahoma Territorial Museum and
Carnegie Library is the centerpiece of the historic
Ponca City
101 Ranch Memorial
Tulsa
Fort Gibson Historic Site
Honey Springs Battlefield
downtown district that honors and celebrates the
Oklahomas transformation from Indian Territory to
statehood that began with the 1889 land run. The
downtown district is on the Register of Historic
Places and is the largest contiguous urban historic
district in the country. Begin your tour of the Guthrie
Museum Complex in the museum at the territorial
and first state capital building before taking a walking
tour of the historic city.
406 E Oklahoma Ave, Guthrie, OK 73044
405- 282-1889 OKTerritorialMuseum.org
Washita Battlefield National Historic Site
The Lt. Col. George A. Custer led U.S. 7th Cavalry
surprise attack at dawn on the Southern Cheyenne
village of Peace Chief Black Kettle on November 27,
1868 is commemorated at the Washita Battlefield
National Historic Site. Follow the 1.5 mile trail from
the overlook to the site of Black Kettles village and
learn about the tragic conflict between the U.S. and
the Southern Plains Indian tribes.
426 E. Broadway Cheyenne, Oklahoma 73628
580-497-2742 NPS.gov
Texas
The Alamo
Internationally the most recognized historical site in
the state of Texas, the Alamo is a Shrine of Texas
Liberty and those who tour its sacred grounds should
revere it as hallowed ground. Built originally by
Spanish pioneers in 1718, the Mission San Antonio
de Valero was abandoned in the 1790s. By 1836 and
the Texas War of Independence the mission was
known best by its nickname El Alamo renamed by
Spanish soldiers in the early 1800s. Visitors to the
Alamo will enjoy the various tour opportunities of the
mission and battlefield site, history talks, audio tours,
regularly scheduled special events and the unique
Phil Collins Collection of Alamo and Texas history.
300 Alamo Plaza, San Antonio, TX 78205
210-225-1391 TheAlamo.org
Concordia Cemetery
Take a walk back into time in El Pasos historic
Concordia Cemetery, the eternal resting place for the
famous and infamous, valiant and brave, humble and
unknown. El Pasoans have buried their dead in the
graveyard since the first soul was interred in the
1840s. Managed by the Concordia Heritage
Association to protect, preserve and maintain the
historic cemetery, visitors can walk its grounds and
see outlaw John Wesley Hardins grave as well as
John Selmans, the lawman who put Hardin in
Concordia. Dont miss the special section dedicated
to Buffalo Soldiers, the graves of Texas Rangers, Civil
War veterans and the innumerable headstones of El
Pasos citizenry forgotten with time.
3700 E. Yandell Dr., El Paso, TX 79903
915-842-8200 ConcordiaCemetery.org
Enchanted Rock State Natural Area
An ancient dome of granite in Texass Hill Country,
Enchanted Rock has been a landmark to the peoples
of the region for thousands of years. Protected in a
state natural area, the landmark 425-fott pink granite
outcropping, has over 400 archeological sites, and
held sacred by many tribes. Enchanted Rock was the
site of a famous shootout between Texas Ranger
Capt. Jack Hays and a band of Comanches in 1841.
Today, visitors can hike its trails, explore the granite
dome and star gaze, all the while considering why the
local Tonkawa believed the granite dome was the
Glowing, singing rock.
16710 Ranch Rd. 965, Fredericksburg, TX 78624
830-685-3636 TPWD.State.Tx.gov
First Battle of Adobe Walls Site Historic
Marker and Second Battle of Adobe
Walls-Battle Ground Marker
Southern Plains pioneer and proprietor William Bent
built an adobe trading post on Bent Creek north of the
Canadian River in 1843. Five years after his initial log
cabin, expanded into an adobe fort, was built, he
closed and blew up his 80-square foot outpost
because of Indian attacks. In November 1864 and
then in June 1874, the ruins of Bents adobe fort
became ingrained in Western history as the site of the
First and Second Battle of Adobe Walls, respectively.
Visit the Hutchison County Historical Museum in
Borger to learn more about the local history, culture
and the two Battles of Adobe Walls.
Borger COC 613 N. Main, Borger, TX 79008
806-274-2211 BorgerChamber.org
Fort Concho National Historic Landmark
Built in 1867 as a strategic U.S. Army outpost during
the post-Civil War conflict with the Southern Plains
tribes, Fort Concho served its purpose effectively until
it was closed in 1889. The City of San Angelo operates
the historic landmark, museum and preservation of 23
fort buildings. Walk in the footsteps of soldiers and
their families who lived at the fort and tour Officers
Row and Quarters, the Enlisted Mens Barracks, Post
Headquarters, Hospital, School House and Chapel. Fort
Concho is also the site of numerous annual living
history events including Buffalo Soldier Heritage Day in
February and Fort Concho Frontier Day in April.
630 S. Oakes St., San Angelo, TX 76903
325-481-2646 FortConcho.com
Fort Davis National Historic Site
From 1854 to 1891, Fort Davis played a strategic
military role in the settlement of West Texas and the
protection of travelers on the San Antonio-El Paso
Road. Today, Fort Davis National Historic Site is one of
the best examples of frontier posts that played such a
critical role in the Indian Wars with the Comanche,
Apache and Kiowa in the American Southwest.
Visitors can tour the forts restored and re-furnished
buildings on a self-guided tour, and enjoy regular
scheduled living history events with reenactors in
period and military dress, including an annual
Independence Day celebration.
101 Lt. Henry Flipper Dr., Fort Davis, TX 79734
432-426-3224 NPS.gov
Fort Worth Stockyards
National Historic District
From 1866 to 1890, Texas cowboys drove the cattle
north to market, and in the early days, Fort Worth was
a last stop before the trail boss headed his outfit and
herd north across the Red River across Oklahoma to
the rail heads in Kansas. After the railroad arrived in
1876, Fort Worth became a shipping station and the
first stockyards were built. For the next seven decades,
Fort Worth developed into the nations largest
stockyard and livestock exchange in the nation. In the
1970s, with the steady decline in the cattle business
and packing houses in the city, the Fort Worth
Historical Society was created to preserve the historic
district. Today, the Fort Worth Stockyards National
Historic District is one of the most visited tourist
attractions in the state (dont miss the twice a day
longhorn cattle drives), and cattle are still sold at the
Livestock Exchange Building every weekvia satellite.
131 E. Exchange Ave., Suite 110, Fort Worth, TX 76164
817-625-5082 StockyardsMuseum.org
Goliad State Park & Goliad Historic Site
When visitors arrive at Goliad State Park they should be
prepared to take a walk into Spanish Colonial, Mexican
and Texan history. Tour a 1930s refurnished restoration
of the Spanish Colonial Era Mission of Nuestra Seora
del Espritu Santo de Zuiga, the reconstructed
birthplace of Mexican Cinco de Mayo hero General
Ignacio Zaragoza, the Fannin Memorial Monument and
the 1749 Presidio La Bahia, where Fannin and his men
were executed under the orders of Mexican Gen. Santa
Ana in 1836. The Fannin Battleground State Historic
Site is ten miles east of Goliad, and well worth a tour,
as is a walk through Goliads historic downtown.
108 Park Rd 6, Goliad, TX 77963
361-645-3405 TPWD.State.Tx.gov
Historic Fort Stockton
First constructed in 1856 near present day Pecos,
Camp Stockton was abandoned in 1861 at the
First Battle of Adobe Walls
Second Battle of Adobe Site Historic Marker
Walls-Battle Ground Marker
Amarillo
Palo Duro Canyon
State Park
Lubbock
Fort Worth Stockyards
Concordia Cemetery
National Historic District
Fort Concho
El Paso National Historic Landmark
San Elizario
Historic District Enchanted Rock State Natural Area
Hueco Tanks State Park Historic Fort Stockton
& Historic Site
Fort Davis National Historic Site
The Alamo
San Antonio Missions
National Historical Park
Goliad State Park
& Goliad Historic Site
outbreak of the Civil War. In 1867, Fort Stockton was
re-established at its current location and garrisoned
with the 9th Cavalry, a newly created Black regiment.
The fort was used to the tactical advantage of the
Army in its fight with Southern Plains Indian tribes
until it was closed in 1886. Historic Fort Stockton
consists today of the parade ground, the Guard
House, two reconstructed Enlisted Mens Barracks
and Kitchens, and three structures from the original
Officers Row, two of which are open to the public.
301 E. 3rd St., Fort Stockton, TX 79735
432-336-2400 HistoricFortStockton.org
Hueco Tanks State Park and Historic Site
Home to ancient peoples long before the Spanish
entrada into the region, modern Indian tribes found
refuge, water and shelter amidst the tanks, as did
succeeding generations of explorers, travelers,
settlers, and event the Butterfield Overland Mail had a
station in the late 1850s. A working ranch from the
1890s to the 1940s, the ranchers adobe home is the
parks interpretive center today.
6900 Hueco Ranks Road No. 1., El Paso, TX 79938
915-857-1135 TPWD.State.TX.us
Old Fort Parker Historic Site
Fort Parker bears the name of the family who
suffered an Indian raid on May 19, 1836, that led to
the kidnapping of nine-year-old Cynthia Parker. She
would be raised as a Comanche and married to
Chief Peta Nocona. Their son grew up to be the
legendary Chief Quanah Parker, the last to lead the
Comanche in war on the Southern Plains. Tour the
restored fort, built in 1936 in honor of the Texas
Centennial, adjacent to Fort Parker State Park.
866 Park Road 35, Park Rd., Groesbeck, TX 76642
254-729-5253 OldFortParker.org
Dallas-Fort Worth
Waco Suspension Bridge
Old Fort Parker
Historic Site
Austin
San Jacinto
Battle Monument
San Antonio Houston
Enchanted Rock State Natural Area
Palo Alto Battlefield
National Historic
Monument
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 Palo Alto Battlefield National Waco Suspension Bridge
Historic Monument Driving the longhorn herds north from southern Texas
In the lower Rio Grande Valley near the Gulf of to Kansas, the range bosses and cowboy crews faced
Mexico, the Mexican-American War started on the innumerable daily dangers, but pushing thousands of
prairie of Palo Alto when Mexican forces attacked steers across rivers on the Chisholm trail led to many
Gen. Zachary Taylors army on May 8, 1846. drownings of men and animals. The Brazos River in
Visitors to the Palo Alto Battlefield Historic Waco was unpredictable, and the ferry crossing
Monument should begin their tour at the visitor cumbersome for cattle drives. The city recognized an
centers museum before walking interpretive trails opportunity for the future and built a 475-foot
to the battlefield site. suspension bridge, the first ever in Texas. Today, the
Waco Suspension Bridge is pedestrian only, but Waco
7200 Paredes Line Rd., Brownsville, TX 78526
956-541-2785 NPS.gov still holds its Independence Day celebration at the
bridge and Indian Springs Park, the original town site.
Palo Duro Canyon State Park Waco CVB: 106 Texas Ranger Trail, Waco, TX 76706
800-922-6386 WacoHeartOfTexas.com
In the Panhandle of Texas, Paul Duro Canyon State
Park, known as The Grand Canyon of Texas,
protects one of the most unique natural and culturally
important sites in the Lone Star state. Home to Native
peoples for over 12,000 years, the Comanche and
Kiowa occupied the canyon lands prior to the their
wars with the U.S. in the 19th century. In 1874, the Great Reads:
tribes suffered a major defeat in a battle at Palo Duro,
and two years later famous cattle baron Charles Mike Coxs The Texas Rangers: Wearing the
Goodnight established his JA Ranch in the canyon. Cinco Peso, 1821-1900
Events are held at the park every month, but for five
decades Texas! Outdoor Musical held in the Pioneer Mark Lee Gardners To Hell on a Fast Horse:
Amphitheatre in the Canyon, June to Mid-August, is The Untold Story of Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett
the highlight of the year.
S.C. Gywnns Empire of the Summer Moon
11450 State Hwy Park Rd 5, Canyon, TX 79015
806-488-2227 TPWD.Texas.gov Paul Andrew Huttons The Apache Wars: The
Hunt for Geronimo, the Apache Kid, and the
San Antonio Missions National Captive Boy Who Started the Longest War in
Historical Park American History
A World Heritage Site since 2015 that includes the
Alamo, San Antonio Missions National Historical Park John Langelliers Fighting for Uncle Sam:
protects, preserves and interprets Missions Buffalo Soldiers in the Frontier Army
Concepcin, San Jos, San Juan and Espada four of
the most important 18th century Spanish Mission Larry McMurtrys Lonesome Dove
complexes in North America.
Casey Tefertillers Wyatt Earp:
6701 San Jose Dr, San Antonio, TX 78214
210-534-1540 NPS.gov The Life Behind the Legend
David Webers The Spanish Frontier
San Elizario Historic District
in North America
Just east of El Paso, the San Elizario Historic District
is a living history center that provides visitors with a
window into 18th and 19th century life along the Rio
Grande River in southwestern Texas. Founded in
Classic Films & TV
1789, the town of San Elizario grew up in support of Life & Legend of Wyatt Earp
the Presidio San Elcear. Visit the citys historic sites on
a walking tour that includes the Presidio, Old City Jail,
Lonesome Dove
Memorial Placita, and Los Portales, home to the citys Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
museum and visitor center. Red River
City of San Elizario: 12710 Church St, San Elizario, TX 79849 The Searchers
915-974-7037 CityofSanElizario.com
Tombstone
San Jacinto Battle Monument The Wild Bunch
General Sam Houstons decisive victory over
Mexican leader General Santa Anas army on April
21, 1836 is honored and enshrined at the San
Jacinto Battle Monument and Museum just 20
minutes outside of Houston. The 567.31 foot obelisk
towers over the battlefield site with an observation
tower at the top and the San Jacinto Museum in the
base. Tour the museums exhibits and watch the film
Texas Forever!!
1 Monument Cir, La Porte, TX 77571
281-479-2421 TPWD.Texas.gov

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Copyright Free Vector Maps.com
Great Basin
and Rocky
Mountains
Colorado, Montana,
Utah and Wyoming
When William F. Cody died in Denver, Colorado, in
1917, they say he requested he be buried high on
Lookout Mountain west of the city so that he could
eternally see both the plains and mountains he loved.
From Montanas snow-covered peaks to the labyrinth
of canyons in Southern Utah, from Wyomings
Yellowstone country to Colorados Continental Divide,
the Great Basin and Rocky Mountains region was home
to numerous Indian tribes before Europeans arrived in
search of furs. The abundant natural resources of the
region drove the conquest and settlement of the four
states through the 19th centuryand even into the
present. Travelers in search of the Old West in the
region will discover why distance is relative to the time
needed to cross over high mountain passes and
sagebrush deserts on foot, horseback or wagon, by
transcontinental train, or in a car driving on ribbons of
historic highways under a seemingly endless blue sky.
Colorado
Bents Old Fort National Historic Site
Entrepreneurism and courage were the touchstones
of William and Charles Bent who in 1833 built their
trading post with their partner, Ceran St. Vrain, along
the Santa Fe Trail on the north banks of the Arkansas
River in the middle of Indian country. For 16 years,
Bents Fort was the castle of the plains, and was the
most important economic center between Kansas City
and Santa Fe until it was abandoned in 1849. The fort
was reconstructed for Americas bicentennial, and
serves as one of the National Parks most active living
history centers.
35110 Colorado Hwy 194 East, La Junta, CO 81050
719-383-5010 NPS.gov
Buffalo Bills Grave and Museum
In Golden, Colorado, high on Lookout
Mountain is William F. Buffalo Bill
Codys final resting place. The Western
showman died while visiting his sister in
Denver in 1917. His wife, Louisa, was
buried next to him four years later and
that same year Codys friend Johnny Georgetown Loop Historic
Baker started the Buffalo Bill Memorial
Museum. Today the Buffalo Bill Museum
and Grave is one of the most visited
historic sights in Colorado, a true
testament to the lasting importance of the
beloved Western showman.
987 Lookout Mountain Road Golden, CO 80401
303-526-0744 BuffaloBill.org
Durango
Located in the heart of the San Juan
Mountains on the banks of the Animas
Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming.
COURTESY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
River in Southwest Colorado, Durango is home to the
world-famous Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge
Railroad. Visitors who love Victorian inns will love
staying at the Historic Strater Hotel in the downtown
district before taking a round-trip ride into history on
the narrow-gauge railroad to Silverton and back. The
train runs year round, with special excursions in the
heart of the winter.
802 Main St., Durango, CO 81302
800-463-8726 Durango.org
Fort Garland Museum & Cultural Center
Built in the heart of Colorados San Luis Valley in
1858, Fort Garland was an early outpost in the heart
of the state when settlers began expanding their
communities into the rich interior valleys. A key
military outpost until 1883, Kit Carson was assigned
command of the fort in 1866-67 because of his
knowledge of the region and relationship with the
local Utes. Todays visitors will enjoy the rich heritage
preserved at the fort, including regularly scheduled
re-enactments and living history events.
29477 CO-159, Fort Garland, CO 81133
719-379-3512 HistoryColorado.org/MuseumTrail.org
Fort Vasquez Museum
In 1835, fur traders Louis Vasquez and Andrew
Sublette built Fort Vasquez about 35 miles north of
modern Denver. The adobe outpost was a busy site
with many famous mountain men working for the
frontier entrepreneurs. Near Platteville, the museum
inside the re-created fort rebuilt in the 1930s has
numerous displays and exhibits on the fur trade,
mountain men, Plains Indians and frontier life.
13412 U.S. Highway 85, Platteville, CO 80651
970-785-2832 HistoryColorado.org
Georgetown Loop Railroad
& Mining Tours
The Silver Queen of the Rockies, historic
Georgetowns business district is an enjoyable and
informative place to begin a tour of the mining town
built on the silver boom of the 1880s. The
Georgetown Loop Railroad & Mining Tours is an
engineering marvel and provides todays passengers
views of the Clear Creek Canyon and the Rocky
Mountains. For an additional fee, passengers may
take a guided tour of one of three mines.
646 Loop Drive, Georgetown, CO 80444 888-456-6777
GeorgetownLooprRR.com/Georgetown-Colorado.org
Fort Vasquez Museum
Mining & Railroad Park Denver
Buffalo Bills Grave& Museum
Leadville
Grand Junction Colorado Springs
Sand Creek Massacre
National Historic Site
Fort Garland Museum
& Cultural Center Bents Old Fort
National Historic Site
Silverton
Durango Trinidad
T R U E
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 1885 US Army Hospital Glacier National Park Bear Paw Battlefield

Fort Benton
Great Falls
Missoula
Helena
Big Hole National Battlefield Bozeman Billings
Virginia City
Bannack State Park
Little Big Horn Battlefield
National Monument

Fort Bayard
NatioNal Historic
laNdmark
US Army Post US Army Hospital
Fort Bayard Historic Preservation Society
Museum Tours & Film Festivals
Fort Bayard 151st Birthday: August 19th
Fort Bayard Days: September 15th -17th
575-388-4477 575-956-3294
515-388-9123 970-222-2433
FortBayard.org
paid for by Silver City Lodgers Tax
Leadville
At 10,430 feet, historic Leadville, the highest
incorporated city in the United States, is a mining
boomtown built near the headwaters of the Arkansas
River. Abe Lee discovered gold in 1860, which was
followed by a silver boom in the 1870s. Start your
tour at the National Mining Hall of Fame & Museum,
then take the historic walking tour before boarding
the popular vintage Leadville Train. Stay at the 1886
Delaware Hotel in Leadvilles historic district.
Leadville/Lake County Chamber: 809 Harrison Ave.,
Leadville, CO 80461 719-486-3900 Leadville.com
Sand Creek Massacre
National Historic Site
Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site is a
solemn site. The park is dedicated to remembering,
the tragic and unforgivable attack on Chiefs Black
Kettle, White Antelope and Left Hands peaceful
villages on November 29, 1864. Led by Col. John
Chivington, 675 cavalrymen attacked at dawn,
Bear Paw Battlefield
Commemorating the final battle of the Nez Perce War
of 1877, Bear Paw Battlefield is the site of Chief
Josephs famous statement, From where the sun
now stands, I will fight no more forever. Begin your
tour at the Blaine County Museum in Chinook, fifteen
miles south of the battlefield. Call for hours of
operation. Bear Paw Battlefields self-guided
1-mile moderately difficult interpretive trail is
open to the public every day during daylight hours.
Located 15 miles south of Chinook, MT on Highway 240
406-357-3130 NPS.gov/BlaineCountyMuseum.com
Big Hole National Battlefield
Near Wisdom, Big Hole National Battlefield is a unit of
the Nez Perce National Historical Park and one of the
most significant sites of the Nez Perce War of 1877.
An extensive museum in the visitor center displays
rare artifacts and detailed exhibitions on the tragic
results of the battle. Three self-guided trails take
visitors onto the battlefield, to the village site, and up
onto the ridgeline where Col. John Gibbons soldiers

Old West
slaughtering 230 Cheyenne and Arapaho women,
children, warriors and the elderly. Visitors should
plan to attend an interpretive program and take the
short walk out to the monument and overlook.
CR 54 & CR W (Near Eads), CO 81036-0249
719-438-5916 NPS.gov
Silverton
Gold and silver were found in 1860, but miners
didnt return to the Animas River Canyon to seek
their fortunes until after the Civil War. In 1874, the
town of Silverton was laid out and the boom was on.
In 1882, the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad reached
Silverton. At its height, over 2,000 called Silverton
home, with more than 400 buildings, including 29
retreated and held out under duress from a Nez Perce
siege while the tribe buried its dead and escaped.
16425 Hwy 43 W. Wisdom, MT 59761
406-689-3155 NPS.gov
Fort Benton
Fort Benton on the Missouri River is a crossroads of
history. Visitors should stay awhile in the national
historic landmark, the terminus of three major trails
and a key stop on the Lewis & Clark and Nez Perce
National Historic trails. Museum lovers will enjoy
Historic Old Fort Benton, the Museum of the Upper
Missouri, Museum of the Northern Great Plains, the
Missouri River Breaks Interpretive Center, the Historic

new adventures
saloons. Today, historic Silverton is a popular tourist
destination and the terminus of the internationally
acclaimed Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad.
414 Greene St., Silverton, CO 81433
800-752-4494 SilvertonColorado.com
District and Levee Walk, the Shep Memorial and the
State of Montanas Lewis & Clark Memorial.
U.S. Highway 87, forty miles northeast from Great Falls or
seventy two miles South from Havre 406-622-3864
FortBenton.com

The Dalles Area Chamber of Commerce
Montana
Bannack State Park
When prospector John White found gold on
Grasshopper Creek in 1862, the news of the
discovery created a rush to Bannack, which in 1864
became the first Territorial capital of Montana. Mining
remained an important industry in Bannack until the
1930s and in the 1950s Montana made the historic
community a state park. Today visitors step back in
time and can walk through most of the 60 historic
structures. Dont miss Bannack Days, held the third
weekend every July, which celebrates the early
decades of the Montana Territory.
4200 Bannack Road, Dillon, Montana 59725
406-834-3413 Bannack.org
Great Falls
Upriver from Fort Benton, the Lewis and Clark National
Historic Trail leads to Great Falls, a key stop for
heritage travelers to view and tour the site of the Corps
of Discoverys portage of the five waterfalls on the
Missouri River. Visitors should visit the C.M. Russell
Museum, Giant Springs State Park and the Lewis and
Clark Interpretive Center and enjoy a short or long
walk, run or bike ride on the 48-mile Rivers Edge Trail.
1106 9th Street South, Great Falls, MT 59405
406-771-1180 GenuineMontana.com
Glacier National Park
Known as the Crown of the Continent, Glacier
National Park was a traditional homeland to Native
Blackfeet, Kootnei, Pend dOreillie and Salish

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tribes. With the Blackfeet controlling the region
into the 1870s, American settlers were slow to
homestead the area but with the arrival of the
Great Northern Railroad in 1891, homesteading
and prospecting increased pressure on the
natural beauty of the area. Tourism became a
source of income, and with the rise of the
national park movement, President William H. Taft
made Glacier the tenth national park in 1910.
64 Grinnell Dr, West Glacier, MT 59936
406-888-7800 NPS.gov

Little Bighorn Battlefield National

Monument
In American history, Little Bighorn remains one of
most significant battles in the Republics history.
Located on the Crow Agency, the June 25-26,
1876 battle between Sitting Bull and Crazy Horses
Sioux and Cheyenne allies and Lt. Col. George A.
Custers 7th Cavalry, led to the death of 263
soldiers, including Custer. Visitors will discover a
solemnity that imbues the park, whether one is
touring the national cemetery, the visitor center
museum, along the walkways, the 1881 7th
Cavalry Memorial, or the 2003 Indian Memorial.
When touring the monument, ranger-led programs
provide expert analysis on the battle, while a drive
out to the Benteen-Reno Battlefield provides the
visitor with a great view of the Little Bighorn River
Valley. After touring the monument, dont miss an
opportunity to visit the Custer Battlefield Museum,
in Garryowen, Montana, or a chance to stay the
night at the fully restored, historic Sheridan Inn in
Sheridan, Wyoming.
756 Battlefield Tour Rd, Crow Agency, MT 59022
406-638-3224 NPS.gov/CusterMuseum.org/
SheridanInn.com

Virginia City
In 1863, prospectors looking for the next bonanza
beyond the claims covering the hills near Bannack
discovered gold in Alder Gulch. Soon Virginia City
was the latest Western boomtown that brought
settlers deep into the Northern Plains. Within a year,
8,000 to 10,000 miners were living in the wild
boomtown. Soon thereafter Virginia City was the
territorial capital. Today, visitors can walk the historic
streets of the Victorian mining town, tour numerous
historic structures, be entertained by re-enactors,
take a ride on train, and learn how Virginia City,
Montana, changed the course of history in the West.
800-829-2969 VirginiaCity.com

Utah
Bluff Fort
In 1879-80 Mormon Pioneers built a 250-mile trail
from Parowan to Bluff that remains symbolic of the
determination of the missionaries and their loyalty to
themselves and the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. Soon after the pioneers settled
along the San Juan, they built Bluff Fort and moved
the community members into cabins inside the fort
to protect them from Indian attacks. Visitors can tour
a replica of the fort, an original cabin, and replicas
of other buildings, including the Co-op Store, which
is the visitors center and gift shop.
550 Black Locust Ave, Bluff, UT 84512
435-672-9995 BluffUtah.org/HIRF.org

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Fort Douglas Military Museum
The army post was built in 1862 just east of Salt
Lake City to guard the Central Overland Route. In the
early years, soldiers at Camp Douglas played an
important peacekeeping role in the region and
served to protect the construction of the
transcontinental railroad in 1869. The fort served
the regular army until 1991, although the Army
Reserve still maintains a 51-acre site. Today, visitors
can enjoy the Fort Douglas Military Museum on the
campus of the University of Utah.
32 Potter St, Salt Lake City, UT 84113
801-581-1251 FortDouglas.org
Golden Spike National
Historic Site
On May 10, 1869, the Central Pacific and Union
Pacific railroads completed the engineering feat of
the first transcontinental railroad in North America
at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory. Today, the
Golden Spike National Historic Site protects,
interprets and promotes the magnanimous moment
with visitor center exhibitions and film, interpretive
hiking and walking trails, and living history
re-enactments, including a regular re-enactment of
the meeting of the two steam locomotives Jupiter
and No. 119 nose-to-nose, and the driving of the
Golden Spike.
6450 N 22000th W, Corinne, UT 84307
435-471-2209 NPS.gov
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Golden Spike
National Historic Site Fort Douglas
Ogden Military Museum
Gouldings Trading Post Salt Lake City This is the Place
State Park
In the early 1920s, sheep trader Harry
Goulding and his wife, Leone, known to
all as Mike, came to Monument Valley
and started a trading post. During the
Depression, Harry and Mike went to
Hollywood with photographs of their
beautiful valley to drum up business for Robbers Roost Moab
the impoverished area, and John Ford
agreed it was perfect for his upcoming
film, Stagecoach. Ever since, Monument Meadow Mountains
Massacre Site Bluff Fort
Valley has been a favorite location for
St. George Gouldings Trading Post
movie companies, and Gouldings
quickly became Fords headquarters in Kanab
the picturesque valley. Today, visitors Monument Valley
can stay in the lodge, tour the museum
in the original trading post, and enjoy
the spectacular views of Monument
had killed his friend George Flatnose Curry
Valley known worldwide. (Logans adopted last name) and his brother, Larry
1000 Main Street Monument Vly, Monument Valley, UT 84536 Logan. Visitors should start their tour at the Museum
435-727-3231 Gouldings.com of Moab before venturing out to drive three scenic
byways and visit Canyonlands and Arches National
Moab Parks and Dead Horse Point State Park.
The earliest Mormon settlers of Moab in the 1850s 217 Center St, Moab, UT 84532
were driven out by Indian attacks. In 1878, a new 435-259-5121 DiscoverMoab.com
wave of settlers restarted the community. The
isolated, rural river town attracted its share of Meadow Mountains Massacre Site
miscreants, including Harvey Alexander Logan, aka The Meadow Mountains Massacre Site
Kid Curry, who on May 26, 1900, went on a killing commemorates an attack on an Arkansas emigrant
spree of revenge in Moab, killing Grand County wagon train by Mormon settlers with local Paiute
Sheriff Jesse Tyler and Deputy Sam Jenkins. Tyler

Indians. The local Latter-day Saints pioneers were
suspicious of the federal governments anti-Mormon
policies, and on September 11, 1857, the Mormon
militia attacked and killed 120 men, women and
children of the Baker-Fancher wagon train.
Seventeen children survived. The National Historic
Landmark, is 40 minutes north of present-day St.
George on State Highway 18.
MountainMeadowsMassacre.com/MTN-Meadows-Assoc.com
Monument Valley
Monument Valley became known internationally after
Harry and Leone Mike Goulding convinced John
Ford to make his movie Stagecoach amidst the
valleys beautiful buttes in 1938. Today, nearly 80
years later, Monument Valley is one of the most
iconic sites in the American West. Visitors can stay at
the Navajo Nations recently built View Lodge, in
which every room has a balcony view of the sunrise
over Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. Tourists
can take a 3.2-mile self-guided walking tour, a
17-mile scenic loop drive, or hire a Navajo guide for
a personal tour through the park.
The valley lies within the range of the Navajo Nation
Reservation and is accessible from U.S. Highway 163
NavajoNationParks.org
Robbers Roost
Butch Cassidys gang found refuge in Utah Territorys
rugged Capitol Reef Country. North of Hanksville,
visitors drive north on state highway 24 and follow the
Robbers Roost Trail, a 28-mile dirt road for ATV and
ORV and four-wheel vehicles only. From the parking
area, trails lead into historic sites in the back country,
including Butch Cassidys cabin and camping area.
Hanksville, UT
800-858-7951 NPS.gov CapitolReef.org
This is the Place Heritage Park
A living history village dedicated to the Mormon
settlement in Utah, This is the Place Heritage Park
commemorates where Brigham Young and his
Church of Latter-day Saints pioneers viewed the Salt
Lake Valley from the foothills of the Wasatch
Mountains at the mouth of Emigrant Canyon. Young
declared this is the place, and today the location is
an interactive history center, where visitors can tour a
Pioneer Village of restored and replicated
19th-century homes, buildings and businesses, an
Indian Village and ride around the park on two
miniature trains.
2601 Sunnyside Ave, Salt Lake City, UT 84108
801-582-1847 ThisIsThePlace.org
Wyoming
Buffalo
Visitors who walk the downtown district of Buffalo,
Wyoming, should consider spending the night and
dining at the Occidental Hotel, where Owen Wister
may have written part of his famous novel, The
Virginian. The Jim Gatchell Memorial Museums
exhibits chronicles local history, including the Johnson
County War. Just outside town is the TA Ranch, a
historic guest ranch that was the site of a major
conflict during the cattle war. Dont miss Longmire
Days every July in celebration of writer Craig
Johnsons Walt Longmire mystery novel and television
series set in Big Horn country.
55 N. Main St. Buffalo, WY 82834
800-227-5122 BuffaloWyoming.org
Cody
Cody, Wyoming, is one of the preeminent Western
destinations. Founded as a land venture to attract
the railroad near the east entrance of Yellowstone,
William F. Buffalo Bill Cody lent his name to the
town. Begin your tour by checking into Codys
Historic Irma Hotel (dont miss the cheery wood bar
given to Cody by Queen Victoria), named after his
daughter, and then visiting the Buffalo Bill Center of
the Wests complex of five museums, library and
archive, the most significant Western history
museum center in the United States. Schedule a
couple of days to tour the Buffalo Bill History
Museum, Cody Firearms Museum, Plains Indian
Museum, Draper Museum of Natural History and
the Whitney Gallery of Western Art.
836 Sheridan Ave Cody, WY 82414
307-587- 2297 CodyChamber.com
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Cody
Yellowstone
National Park
Hole-in-the-Wall
Fort Caspar Museum
Casper
South Pass
Laramie
Historic Laramie Territorial Prison
Fort Bridger
State Historic Park
Fort Bridger State Historic Site
In 1843, mountain men Jim Bridger and Louis
Vasquez opened a trading post along the Oregon
Trail. In the early 1850s, it became a Mormon
outpost and then an army camp in 1858. Visitors
can walk along the Oregon Trail at the site, tour
restored and reconstructed historical buildings and
the museum in the 1888 stone barracks. Every
Labor Day Weekend, the annual Fort Bridger
Rendezvous brings the park alive with an
encampment of re-enactors.
37000 I80 Business Loop, Fort Bridger, WY 82933
307-782-3842 WyoParks.State.WY.us
Fort Caspar Museum
Originally built in 1865 as Platte Bridge Station, the
city of Casper manages the reconstructed fort as a
living history museum. Adjacent to the North Platte
River and the national emigrant trails, Fort Caspar
was an army camp for just two years before the
post was closed and the troops transferred to Fort
Fetterman. Rebuilt by the WPA in the 1930s,
visitors to the Fort should tour the museum and the
forts well-furnished complex of historic army
facilities and barracks.
200 N. David, Casper, WY 82601
307-234-3260 FortCasparWyoming.com
Fort Laramie National Historic Site
Established in 1834 to serve the transcontinental
fur trade, Fort Laramies location on the North Platte
River and the overland trail assured its role as a
military fort, trading post and key stopping point for
hundreds of thousands of emigrants traveling to the
West. A strategic post during the Plains Indian
Wars, Fort Laramie also was a station stop for the
Pony Express and Overland Stage. Visitors to the
who take the self-guided or guided tour will learn
the importance of Fort Laramie to U.S. history until
its closure in 1890.
965 Gray Rocks Rd, Fort Laramie, WY 82212
307-837-2221 NPS.gov
replica of the fort and take a Yellowstone
walking tour of interpretive
sites about Red Clouds
National Park
Indian force of Lakota, The nationsand worldsfirst national park,
Sheridan Arapaho and Cheyenne that Yellowstone National Park was created on March 1,
Fort Phil Kearny wiped out Capt. William 1872 when President Ulysses S. Grant signed it into
State Historic Site Fettermans entire law. Yellowstone is also one of the largest national
command of 80 soldiers. parks, at 2,291,791 acres. The first rangers to patrol
Buffalo the park were members of a U.S. Cavalry troop,
528 Wagon Box Rd,
Banner, WY 82832 which in 1877 was called out to protect tourists from
307-684-7629 Chief Josephs Nez Perce warriors. Visit the Albright
FortPhilKearny.com Visitor Center to learn about the role of the U.S.
Fort Laramie Cavalry at Yellowstone.
National Historic Site Historic Laramie Mammoth St, Yellowstone National Park, WY 82190
Territorial Prison 307-344-7381 NPS.gov
Built in 1872, the Laramie
Cheyenne Territorial Prison was the
end of the road for outlaws
and law breakers in the
territory and state until
Great Reads:
1903. Just one of three Win Blevinss Give Your Heart to the Hawks
federally funded territorial prisons built in the West,
the Laramie Prison has been restored and can be Thom Hatchs The Last Outlaws: The Lives and
toured along with the wardens quarters, the horse Legends of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
barn, prison industries broom factory, and a visitor
center in a historic adobe house. A 1920s church Dorothy M. Johnsons The Bloody Bozeman: The
and 1880s ranch buildings were moved to the site Perilous Trail to Montanas Gold
for preservation.
975 Snowy Range Rd, Laramie, WY 82070
Mari Sandozs Crazy Horse: The Strange Man of
307-745-3733 WyomingTerritorialPrison.com the Oglalas
T.J. Stiless Custers Trials: A Life on the Frontier
Hole-in-the-Wall
of a New America
Forty miles southwest from Kaycee in the Big Horn
Mountains, the legendary Hole-in-the-Wall outlaw
hideaway is managed by the Bureau of Land
Management. Outlaws such as Butch Cassidy and
Classic Films & TV
his Wild Bunch Gang were known to ride through the Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
hole in the red sandstone wall to escape from the
law. The site is accessible only by primitive roads Centennial
and a 2.5-mile cross-country hike. Always check Monte Walsh
with the field office for current conditions, a map Shane
and directions.
Interstate 25 south from Kaycee to the TTT Road exit. At TTT
Road exit, drive south about 14 miles to Willow Creek Road
(County Road 111). Take this road west for about 18 miles to a
primitive two-track road which bears north. This is County
Road 105. As you travel along County Road 105 there are a
number of livestock gates BLM.gov
South Pass
South Pass City is one of the best preserved mining
towns in the state. Gold Rush Days are held every
July and celebrate the mineral rush that built the
boomtown adjacent to the famous pass through the
Rocky Mountains. Every Saturday at 11 a.m., guided
walking tours are given
through the ghost town
with numerous restorations
and demonstrations in
progress. Prior to the 1867
gold rush, South Pass was
Dubuque
best known as the key
crossing point of the Sioux City Sgt. Floyd
The Fort Museum & Frontier Village
Continental Divide for Monument

Fort Phil Kearny State Historic Site

emigrants and travelers on
the Overland Trail.
Golden Spike
Monument Des Moines Buffalo Bill
In the foothills of the Big Horn Mountains, the Fort Phil Council Bluffs John Wayne Wyatt Earp Museum
Fremont County, Wyoming.
Kearny State Historic Site commemorates the ill-fated T27N/R102W. The Buttes are
Birthplace & Museum Home
1866 fort built on the Bozeman Trail during the Red visible from the BLM Old Fort Madison
Cloud War. The fort was burned after the army interpretive overlook for South
Pass located about 47 miles
abandoned it in 1868. Today, visitors can tour a southwest of Lander on State
Route 28. SouthPassCity.com

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 Mount Rushmore, South Dakota.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

John Wayne Birthplace & Museum

On May 27, 1907, Marion Robert Morrison was born in
Winterset, the son of Clyde and Mary Brown Morrison.
The Iowan from Madison County would grow up to be
film star John Wayne. Today, the John Wayne Birthplace
& Museum is a destination for the iconic Westerners
fans worldwide. Tour the museum just off Wintersets
historic town square which was dedicated in 2015, his
humble childhood home, and plan on attending the
museums biggest annual eventthe two-day John
Wayne Birthday Celebration held every May.
205 John Wayne Dr, Winterset, IA 50273
877-462-1044 JohnWayneBirthplace.museum

Golden Spike Monument

In 1862 Congress determined that the Union Pacific
Railroad Company would start construction on the
eastern shore of the Missouri River in Council Bluffs. In
1939, as a promotion for the film Union Pacific, the
56-foot Golden Spike Monument was dedicated in
Council Bluffs at Mile Marker Zero of the rail line. When
in Council Bluffs, dont miss the Historic General Dodge
House, the Lincoln Monument, the Union Pacific
Railroad Museum and the Western Historic Trails Center.
2073-2099 9th Ave, Council Bluffs, IA 51501
712-256-257 TravelCouncilBluffs.com

Old Fort Madison

Fort Madison was built along the Mississippi River in
1808, 38 years before Iowa was a state. An outpost
until 1813, it is the oldest American fort on the Upper
Mississippi, and was attacked by the British during
Copyright Free Vector Maps.com

the War of 1812. Old Fort Madison provides an

Northern Iowa extraordinary historical interpretation of the earliest

decades of American trans-Appalachian history,
including annual re-enactment events.
Buffalo Bill Museum

Prairie and
614 9th St, Fort Madison, IA 52627
The Mississippi River town LeClaire has a rich Western 319-372-6318 FortMadison.com
heritage, including being the birthplace of William F.
Buffalo Bill Cody on February 26, 1846. The Buffalo Sergeant Floyd Monument

Plains
Bill Museum has a broad collection that celebrates the
regions history, and the LeClaires Famous Sons
exhibit. After visiting LeClaire, take a short drive to tour
the Buffalo Bill Cody Homestead in Scott County.
Sgt. Charles Floyd was the only member of the
Corps of Discovery to die on the Lewis and Clark
expedition. He died of appendicitis on August 20,

Iowa, Minnesota, 200 N Cody Rd, Le Claire, IA 52753 563-289-5580

BuffaloBillMuseumLeClaire.com/ScottCountyIowa.Com
1804, and was buried on a bluff near the river. The
Sergeant Floyd Monument, a 100-foot Egyptian

North Dakota and The Fort Museum &

Frontier Village
South Dakota In May 1850, a U.S. soldiers
were sent from Minnesota
The Northern Prairies and Plains of the West are to build a fort on the Des
awe-inspiring in their natural beauty, endless vistas, Moines River in Iowa. Fort Grand Portage National Monument
rolling hills, dense forests and long, winding river Dodge was named in honor
valleys. Today, millions of acres of land are planted of Wisconsin Senator Col.
with grains that feed a world, where tens of millions Henry Dodge, who in 1833
of bison once roamed and nomadic Indian tribes had founded the 1st U.S.
Duluth
followed with the seasons. From the legendary Dragoons. The fort was sold
to the post sutler William North West Company Fur Post
shores of Minnesotas Lake Superior to the mystical
Williams in 1853, who then
Black Hills of South Dakota, from the banks of the
platted out the town of Fort Minneapolis
Mississippi where William F. Cody was born in the
Iowa Territory to the historic earthen lodge Indian
Dodge. The Fort Museum &
Frontier Village is an
James J. Hill House
Historic Fort Snelling
St. Paul
villages of North Dakota, visitors to the Northern interactive history center
Prairie and Plains will discover a region rich in that honors the towns role Northfield Historic District
New Ulm
history, culture and heritage. in the settlement of Iowa.
Fort Ridgely State Park
614 9th St, Fort Madison, IA 52627 Pipestone National
Monument Madelia
515-573-4231 FortMuseum.com

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 Fort Union Trading Post Gingras Trading Post State Historic Site
National Historic Site
Fort Buford State Historic Site Williston
Killdeer Mountain Battlefield
Medora State Historic Site
Dickinson
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
sc
2-Di Knife River Indian Villages
Set National Historic Site
style obelisk above the Missouri River, was
dedicated in his honor in 1901.
2601 S Lewis Blvd, Sioux City, IA 51103
800-593-222 VisitSiouxCity.org/NPS.gov
If youre a history buff or just want to
learn more about the James Brothers, Wyatt Earp Home
Trail of Terror and Beyond is a must- The Wyatt Earp Home-Van Spanckeren House is
have! home to the Pella Historical Museum Village, which is
dedicated to the history the 800 Dutch settlers who
founded Pella in 1846. The houses first-floor
apartment was also the childhood home of Wyatt
Earp in the early 1860s. Visitors to the museum will
learn what life was like for the Earps, who twice lived
To Order: in Pella between 1849 and 1864.
movieproductionsllc.com 507 Franklin St, Pella, IA 50219
1-320-241-7905 641-628-2409 PellaHistoricalMuseum.wordpress.com
Special True West
Holiday Discount Price
2 DVD Set: $29.95
MOVIE
Minnesota
Fort Ridgely State Park
PRODUCTIONS
LLC
DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Built in 1855 adjacent to the Dakota Sioux
Reservation in the Minnesota River Valley, Fort Ridgely
played a key role in the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. Ten
years after the war the fort was shuttered and sold. In
1896 a war memorial was built on the site, and in
1911 the state bought the property for a park. Start at
the visitors center and tour the interpretive exhibit,
which requires a small entrance fee.
72158 Co Rd 30, Fairfax, MN 55332
507-426-7840 DNR.State.MN.us
Grand Portage National Monument
Grand Portage National Monument is co-managed
with the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe-Grand Portage
Band, and is the most important National Park living
history center dedicated to the Old Northwest
Euro-American fur trade network. Tours should begin
at the visitors center and proceed to the re-created
fort on the shore of Lake Superior. Grand Portages
signature annual event is the Rendezvous Days and
Powwow staged the second week of every August.
Grand Portage, MN 55605 218-475-0123 NPS.gov
James J. Hill House
The James J. Hill House in St. Paul was the largest
and most expensive ever built in Minnesota when it
Visit Cochise Stronghold was completed in 1891. The Gilded Age mansion
remained the railroad barons family home until 1925
in the Land of Legends, when his heirs donated it to the Catholic Diocese. The
Minnesota Historical Society has owned and managed
home of the it as a museum since 1978 and its now a National
Historic Landmark.
Chiricahua Apaches 240 Summit Ave., St. Paul, MN 55102
651-297-2555 Sites.MNSH.org
Historic Fort Snelling
800-200-2272 Historic Fort Snelling brings history to life at the army
outpost first built in 1825. Located at the confluence
cattlecapitol.com of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers, the U.S. built
the outpost to keep the peace in the rich fur trading
T R U E
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Fort Totten State Historic Site
Fargo
Camp Hancock State Historic Site
Bismarck
Fort Ambercrombie State Historic Site
region of the Upper Mississippi River Valley. Visitors
today enjoy touring the exhibits, attending special
history programs and walking the grounds of the fort
that served the army until 1946.
200 Tower Ave., St. Paul, MN 55111
612-726-1171 HistoricFortSnelling.org
Madelia
Following the failed robbery of the First National Bank
in Northfield on September 7, 1876, the James and
Younger Gang fled southwest and then split up in an
attempt to escape being brought to justice. Two weeks
and a 100 miles later, on September 21, 1876, Charlie
Pitts and Cole, Jim and Bob Younger were cornered in
Hanska Slough outside of Madelia. Each year during
the third week of September, the town of Madelia
holds a re-enactment of the Younger Brothers Capture
that celebrates the townspeoples role in the
enthralling saga of the failed Northfield Bank Robbery.
127 West Main St, Madelia, MN 50602
507-642-8822 MadeliaMN.com
North West Company Fur Post
Near Pine City, the Minnesota Historical Societys
North West Company Fur Post brings history alive at
the reconstructed 1804 trading center. A museum
dedicated to the French voyageur and British fur trade
era presents extraordinary exhibits while rangers
dressed in period costume conduct educational
history programs. A heritage trail on the Snake River
is open throughout the year for recreation.
12551 Voyageur Ln., Pine City, MN 55063
320-629-6356 Sites.MNHS.org
Northfield Historic District
Founded in 1855, Northfield entered the history
books permanently as the legendary site of the
James-Younger Gangs failed robbery of the First
National Bank on September 7, 1876. Visitors to
Northfield should tour the historic downtown after
touring Northfields Historical Society and Museum, in
the restored original bank building. The annual Defeat
of Jesse James Days is held every Labor Day
Weekend and is one of the premiere Old West
re-enactment events in the region.
Northeld Area Chamber of Commerce
205 Third Street West, Suite B, Northeld, MN 55057
507-645-5604 VisitingNortheld.com/NortheldHistory.org
Pipestone National Monument
For 3,000 years, the American Indian stone quarry
at Pipestone National Monument has been actively
used for making pipes. A monument since 1937,
the Yankton Sioux tribe of South Dakota is credited
for saving the quarry for use by any members of
federally recognized American Indian tribes. Tour
the visitors center, watch Native pipestone carving
demonstrations and walk the Circle Trail to see the
most important historical and natural features of
the park.
36 Reservation Ave., Pipestone, MN 56164
507-825-5464 NPS.gov
 Visit
North Dakota
Camp Hancock State Historic Site
Visitors to North Dakotas state capital, Bismarck,
should visit Camp Hancock State Historic Site,
Florence
A r i z o n A
dedicated to interpreting local history at the
military encampment built to protect the
construction crews of the Northern Pacific
Railroad in 1872.
101 E Main Ave, Bismarck, ND 58501
701-328-2666 History.ND.gov

Fort Ambercrombie State Historic Site

Nicknamed the Gateway to the Dakotas, Fort
Ambercrombie was the first American fort built
in the Dakota Territory in 1858. During the
U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, the post was under
siege for six weeks. Abandoned in 1877, the fort
was reconstructed in the 1930s to be an
interactive history center, with programs held
throughout the year, the majority in the summer.
935 Broadway, Abercrombie, ND 58001
701-553-8513 History.ND.gov

Fort Buford State Historic Site

Near the confluence of the Yellowstone and
Missouri rivers, Fort Buford was constructed in
1866 as a key army supply depot to support the
Historic Downtown Florence | McFarland State Park
Northern Plains campaigns. In service for 29 Pinal County Historical Society and Museum
years, Fort Buford is best known as the 1881 www.florenceaz.gov
surrender site of Sitting Bull. Across the Missouri
River from Fort Union Trading Post National
Historic Site, Fort Buford offers visitors an
opportunity to walk into the past of frontier
North Dakota.
15349 39th Ln NW, Williston, ND 58801
701-572-9034 History.ND.gov

Fort Totten State Historic Site

On the banks of Devils Lake, Fort Totten State
Historic Site stands as a testament to frontier,
military and Indian life in the Dakota Territory
after the Civil War. Built in 1868-73, as a key
outpost adjacent to the Devils Lake Sioux
Reservation, the fort was converted to an Indian
school in 1890. Visitors can tour many of the
original buildings, including the commissary
storehouse, which hosts the Fort Totten
Interpretive Center.
Outheastern Edge Of The Town Of Fort Totten, Fort Totten,
ND 701-328-2666 History.ND.gov

Fort Union Trading Post National

Historic Site
A major living history center along the Lewis and
Clark National Historic Trail, Fort Union Trading Post
was built in 1826 at the confluence of the Missouri
and Yellowstone rivers. An international trading
center, Fort Union was a crossroads of history for
four decades, including most of the famed mountain
men and Indian tribes of the era. Every summer the
park hosts numerous events with re-enactors in
period dress, including the Fort Union Rendezvous.
15550 Hwy 1804Williston, ND 58801
701-572-9083 NPS.gov

Gingras Trading Post State Historic Site

Near Walhalla in northeastern North Dakota near the
Manitoba border, Gingras Trading Post State Historic
Site interprets and preserves Antoine Blanc Gingrass

t r u e
95 w e st
 Spearfish
Lead Deadwood
Pierre
Rapid City
Fort Pierre Chouteau Site
Ingalls Homestead
Badlands National Park
Crazy Horse Mt. Rushmore National Memorial
Custer State Park
Memorial
Wounded Knee Massacre
Wind River Cave
National Park
1840s trading post and home. A Mtis fur trader, his
restored two-story post and separate home are rare
examples of early settlements in the state. Visitors will
enjoy the museum in the finely appointed home, and
souvenirs of the fur trade can be purchased in the
Gingras store.
12882 129th Ave NE, Walhalla, ND 58282
701-549-2775 History.ND.gov
Knife River Indian Villages
National Historic Site
For 500 years, the Knife River Indian Villages were the
traditional home of the Hidatsa people, and later the
Mandan and Arikira. They were a major Native tribal
trading center on the Missouri River for centuries
before the arrival of the Europeans. In the 1750s a fur
trading center was established. Tour the visitors
center to learn about the role of the Upper Missouri
tribes in North American history. Trails lead from the
headquarters to culturally important and fragile village
sites preserved in the park.
564 County Road 37 Stanton, ND 58571
701-745-3300 NPS.gov
Medora and Theodore Roosevelt
National Park
One of the most beautifuland entertainingplaces
in North Dakota, the restored historic village of
Medora and Theodore Roosevelt National Park are
inexorably connected. Every summer the town of
Medora comes alive as the community celebrates the
legacy of Theodore Roosevelt at the Medora Musical.
Founded in 1883 by Frenchman Marquis de Mores,
he named the town after his wife. The Marquiss
settlement also attracted another New Yorker, Teddy
Roosevelt, who built a cattle ranch nearby in 1883.
Roosevelts experiences in the Dakota Territory would
forever shape his life and political career, and the
adjacent national park encompasses the land he so
loved. There are three units to the park: North (near
Watford City), Elkhorn Ranch (Roosevelts ranch), and
South (adjacent to Medora). The south units scenic
drive, numerous pullouts and trails provide the visitor
with a beautiful overview of the park and opportunities
to see wildlife, including bison.
330 Pacic Ave Medora 58645
701-623-4830 MedoraND.com/NPS.gov
South Dakota
Badlands National Park
The wild, windswept Badlands National Park is
244,000 acres of buttes and ridgelines that has eroded
over millions of years. Enjoy the Badlands Loop Road,
with its numerous pullouts, interpretive signs, endless
vistas and wildlife. Stop at the Ben Reifel Visitor Center
to learn the story of the Badlands and stay at the Cedar
Pass Lodge. Want to visit the neighboring Pine Ridge
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Sioux Falls
Devils Gulch Park
Reservation? Stop at the White River Visitor Center,
which is staffed by the Oglala Sioux Parks and
Recreation Authority.
25214 Ben Reifel Pl, Interior, SD 57750
605-433-5361 NPS.gov
Black Hills
Legendary and sacred, the Black Hills of western South
Dakota remain as magnificent as they are mysterious,
a premier Old West destination with thousands of years
of history, innumerable trails to follow deep into its wild
mountains and home to four of the most significant
sites in the West: Custer State Park, Crazy Horse
Memorial, Mt. Rushmore National Memorial and Wind
Cave National Park. Whether you camp, stay at a
historic lodge, guest ranch or inn, a visit to the Black
Hills will inspire the Western traveler to come back
many times to see the bison herd in Custer State Park,
gaze upon the visages carved in granite at Mt.
Rushmore and Crazy Horse, and walk deep in the
sacred earth at Wind River Cave.
1851 Discovery Circle, Rapid City, SD 57701
605-355-3700 BlackHillsBadlands.com
Deadwood and Lead
The epicenter of the gold rush of 1874-76 that
transformed the Black Hills, Deadwood was founded to
supply the rush of miners everything they needed to
survive: supplies, saloons and soiled doves. Today,
Deadwood is one of the most significant historical cities
in South Dakota and the West. Visitors who walk the
streets of Deadwood should start at the visitors center
in the restored railroad station for a map of the city,
directions to local museums, daily events, historic sites
and the Mt. Moriah Cemetery, where Wild Bill Hickok
and Calamity Jane are buried side by side. After touring
Deadwood, drive up the mountain to tour the historic
gold mining town of Lead.
767 Main St, Deadwood, SD 57732
160 W Main Lead, SD 57754 605-584-1100
Deadwood.com/LeadMeThere.org
Devils Gulch Park
On September 7, 1876, the James-Younger Gang
was thwarted in their attempt to rob the First National
Bank in Northfield, Minnesota. With multiple posses
chasing them west out of Minnesota, the gang split
up. Legend has it that soon after crossing into South
Dakota, near Garretson, Jesse was separated from
Frank, and while pursued, he avoided capture by
leaping the 20-foot chasm of Devils Gulch.
5th Street & North Central Avenue, Garretson, SD 57030
VisitGarretson.com
Fort Pierre Chouteau Site
In the 1830s, the American Fur Company had
Frenchman Pierre Chouteau build a fort to serve the
region, quickly becoming one of the most important
trading posts on the Upper Missouri. After visiting the
Fort Pierre Choteau Site, tour the Vrendrye Museum
and the Vrendrye Site, where French explorer Pierre
Gaultier De La Vrendrye placed a lead plate in 1743
claiming the Mississippi River drainage for France. After
Fort Pierre, cross the Missouri River to Pierre and tour
the State Capitol complex and the South Dakota
Museum/Cultural Center.
located about one mile north of Fort Pierre off of SD Hwy 1806
on Fort Chouteau Rd. Historical Society 605-773-3458
HistoricPierre.com/HistorySD.gov
Ingalls Homestead
The Charles and Caroline Ingalls Homestead near
DeSmet was started in 1880 after Laura Ingallss
family moved temporarily to the town in 1879.
Readers of Wilders books will recognize it from her
book By the Shores of Silver Lake. Laura married
Almanzo Wilder in 1885. Today, visitors can tour a
one-room schoolhouse, take a covered wagon ride,
participate in hands on crafts, and pony-cart rides.
Camping at the homestead can even be enjoyed in a
covered wagon.
20812 Homestead Rd, De Smet, SD 57231
800-776-3594 IngallsHomestead.com
Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial
The Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial Site on the
Pine Ridge Reservation is a very solemn place. Visitors
to the memorial should start at the Oglala Lakota
College Historical Center (open June-August,
Monday-Saturday). Proceed to the Pine Ridge Area
Chamber of Commerce in Kyle for information on
visiting Wounded Knee (inquire about a guided tours).
Afterwards, tour the Journey Museum & Learning
Center in Rapid City, home to the Sioux Indian
Museum, the SD Archeological Research Center and
the Minnilusa Pioneer Museum to learn and
experience a broader understanding of culture and
history in the region and state.
Wounded Knee, SD 57794 605- 867-2228
NPS.gov/LakotaMail.com/OLC.edu/JourneyMuseu
Great Reads:
Michael P. Malones James J. Hill:
Empire Builder of the Northwest
James D. McLairds Hugh Glass:
Grizzly Survivor
Glenda Rileys The Female Frontier: A
Comparative View of Women on the Prairie
and the Plains
Joseph G. Rosas They
Called Him Wild Bill: The
Life and Adventures of
James Butler Hickok
Robert M. Utleys The
Life and Times of an
American Patriot:
Sitting Bull
Classic Films & TV
Deadwood
Little House on the Prairie
Man in the Wilderness
The Revenant
 Sod House in Custer County, Nebraska.
COURTESY LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
Southern
Copyright Free Vector Maps.com
Prairie and
Plains
Arkansas, Kansas,
Louisiana, Missouri,
Nebraska
The Southern Prairie and Plains states should be
considered the gateway states to the West. From the
lesser known trails to Texas and Oklahoma, from
Louisiana and Arkansas to the great epicenters of
national trail history in St. Louis, Independence and St.
Joseph, Missouri, heritage travelers can begin
transcontinental trips from Missouri on National Historic
Trails as far away as Santa Fe, New Mexico,
Sacramento, California, and Astoria, Oregon. In Kansas
and Nebraska respectively, the vistas of the Great
Plains inspires visitors to follow the famous Santa Fe
and Oregon Trails west, while inviting tourists to stop
and explore the historic sites associated with the great
cattle drives and military Indian War campaigns. Travel
in the Southern Prairie and Plains region ties the
national story of the Trans-Appalachian West with the
Trans-Mississippi West and how the competing
empires of Spain, France, Great Britain and the United
States vied to wrestle control of North America from the
indigenous American Indian tribes.
Arkansas
Fort Smith Belle Grove Historic District
Belle Grove, one of the most significant historic
districts in Arkansas, is a 22 block area of homes
dating back 130 years adjacent the Fort Smith
National Historic Site and the Arkansas River. Four
homes are open for public tour: The Clayton
House, McKibben-Bonneville House, Fort Smith Art
Center and the Darby House.
Fort Smith CVB: 2 North B St., Fort Smith, AR 72901
Fort Smith Belle Grove Historic District
Fort Smith National Historic Site
479-783-8888 FortSmithAR.gov
Fort Smith National Historic Site
In the annals of American Trans-Mississippi history,
Fort Smith, founded in 1817, is one of the most
important gateway cities to the West. While
Missouris St. Louis, Independence, and St. Joseph
receive more attention in the history books, Fort
Smiths role in the development and settlement of
Western territories, including Oklahoma, Texas and
Kansas must be understood equally to the Missouri
cities. The National Park Services Fort Smith National
Historic Site is one of the largest, best preserved
interpretive centers of a historic 19th-century federal
post west of the Mississippi. Tours should begin at the
Visitor Center in the forts former barracks/courthouse/
prison. Fort Smith may have been best known as the
court of Judge Isaac Parker, the hanging judge, visitors
can tour the 37-acre grounds of Fort Smith on 1.4 mile
self-guided tour of all the key historic structures and
sites, including the Gallows, Commissary and Trail of
Tears National Historic Trail Overlook.
Fort Smith CVB: 2 North B St, Fort Smith, AR 72901
479-783-8888 NPS.gov
Historic Washington State Park
Founded on George Washingtons birthday in 1824,
Washington, Arkansas, is a National Register of Historic
Places site, and one of the best preserved Southern
villages West of the Mississippi River. Historic
Washington State Park includes 30 preserved and
restored architecturally important buildings constructed
between 1824 and 1900. Numerous exhibits and
collections can be enjoyed in the buildings open to the
public, with re-enactors acting as hosts and guides.
Start at the Visitor Center and inquire about programs,
activities and tours of the historic town.
103 Franklin St, Washington, AR 71862
870-983-2625 HistoricWashingtonStatePark.com
Pea Ridge National Military Park
Known as the battle that saved Missouri for the
Union, Pea Ridge National Military Park preserves and
interprets across 4,300 acres one of the most
significant, and lesser known major engagements of
the Civil War in northwestern Arkansas. On a late winter
day, March 27, 1862, 26,000 Union and Confederate
soldiers clashed in one of the wars largest Western
battles. When the smoke cleared, the Federal forces
had thwarted the Southern army from taking control of
northern Arkansas and advancing into Missouri. Begin
a tour at the Visitor Centers museum, where visitors
can sign up for guided tours in the summer. One of the
best ways to see the battle is to drive the Parks
interpretive loop, but the park also has numerous
walking and horse trails. Contact the Park for regular
scheduled reenactments and events.
15930 E. Highway 62, Gareld, AR 72732
479-451-8122 NPS.gov
Pea Ridge National Military Park
Fort Smith
Prairie Grove
Battlefield State Park
Little Rock
Hot Springs
Historic Washington State Park
Texarkana
Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park
The Battle of Prairie Grove was one of the most
significant in the history of the Western Theater of the
Civil War. One of the most intact battlefields of the War
Between the States, Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park
preserves the site that left 2,700 dead or wounded in
northwest Arkansas on December 7, 1862. Visitors
may need more than one day to walk the battlefield
trail, take the driving tour, visit historic Ozark Village and
tour the Parks museum an visitor center in Hindman
Hall. A biennial event, the Battle of Prairie Grove
Reenactment will be held December 3-4, 2016. Inquire
with the Park for more information.
506 E. Douglas St., Prairie Grove, AR 72753
479-846-2990 ArkansasStateParks.com
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 Leavenworth
Topeka
Abilene
Old Abilene Town
Fort Hays State Historic Site
Fort Larned National Historic Site
Dodge City
Wichita
Medicine Lodge Treaty Site
C.M. Condon Bank
Kansas
Condon Bank Building
Rivaling the James-Younger Gangs failed bank
robbery in Northfield, Minnesota, is the Dalton Gangs
disastrous attempt to rob two banks, C.M. Condon
and First National, simultaneously in Coffeyville,
Kansas, on October 5, 1892. Convenient for visitors
to Coffeyville, the areas Chamber of Commerce is
located in the original site of the C.M. Condon Bank,
the 1871 Perkins Building, in the citys historic
district. The Chamber is open Monday to Friday and
the bank vault, tellers area and lobby can be seen as
they were on that fateful day. From the Perkins
Building, take a walking tour of the district to the
Dalton Defenders Museum. The graves of Bob and
Grat Dalton and Bill Powers can be visited in
Coffeyvilles Elmwood Cemetery.
807 Walnut, Coffeyville, KS 67337 620-251-5500
CoffeyvilleChamber.org/DaltonDefendersMuseum.com
Constitution Hall
The history of Kansas is
Constitution Hall
inexorably tied to both the
development of Americas
expansion Westward to the
Southwest, Great Plains and
the Northwest, but also to
the national political debate
on the abolition of slavery
and the Civil War. Historic
Lecompton should be on
everyones tour of key
heritage sites on the origins
of the Kansas-Missouri Border War. Constitution Hall
was built in 1856 and is where the Kansas Territorial
government first convened and wrote a pro-slavery
constitution. After two years of conflict with the
Kansas anti-slavery factions, the seat of power was
wrested from the Lecompton leaders and moved to
Lawrence. Visit Constitution Hall, Territorial Capital
Museum or the website the for information on a
self-guided tour of the historic city.
319 Elmore St, Lecompton, KS 66050
785-887-6520 LecomptonKansas.com
Dodge City
The Queen of the Cowtowns, Dodge Citys iconic
status stands equally with Deadwood, Lincoln and
Tombstone. A tour of Dodge City should begin at the
Visitor Information Center for an orientation and
guide to the city. Take the Historic Trolley Tour
(Memorial Weekend to Labor Day), pick up a map of
the Dodge City Trail of Fame and visit the
internationally acclaimed Boot Hill Museum. Boot Hill
is well known for its outstanding exhibits on frontier
Kansas history, firearms, gambling, buffalo hunters
and the Wild West era of cattle drives. Visitors will
enjoy walking amongst the historical interpreters
and watching the gunfight reenactments on Front
Street, and the Variety Show in the Long Branch
Saloon. While in Dodge City, dont miss a visit to the
Gunfighters Wax Museum, and the Wild West
Heritage Foundations Buffalo and Longhorn Exhibit.
620-225-8186 VisitDodgeCity.org
Fort Hays State Historic Site
First constructed in 1866, Fort Hays served the
strategic needs of the U.S. Army in Western Kansas at
three different sites until it was decommissioned in
1889. Commanders included Nelson Miles and Phil
Sheridan, and was garrisoned by the 5th Infantry, 7th
Cavalry and 10th Cavalry regiments, the latter a famed
unit of Buffalo Soldiers. From 1867-1869, Maj. Gen.
Sheridan and Lt. Col. George A. Custer were
headquartered at Fort Hays in their war with the
Southern Cheyenne and Kiowa. Visitors today will enjoy
regularly scheduled re-enactment events, rangers in
period dress, a museum and walking tours of the
parade ground and four historic buildings.
1472 US Highway 183 Alt, Hays, KS 67601
785-272-8681 KSHS.org
Fort Larned National Historic Site
The army troops posted at Fort Larned were known as
the guardians of the Santa Fe Trail. Built in 1859, the

Where
the
Wild West
Lives
Ride into Cave Creek,
a true western hideout where diverse and colorful cultures and
characters converge. Take in spectacular scenery while enjoying
Arizonas most popular honkytonks, superb restaurants, shopping,
and cultural eventsall with style and a little twist of outlaw.
CaveCreek.org 480.488.1400
Cave Creek, Arizona

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 Spring Street Historical Museum
outposts buildings were constructed of native quarried National Historic Site in
sandstone, the reason Fort Larned National Historic Site Wyoming to Shreveport Vicksburg
remains one of the best preserved Western outposts understanding how the
in the United States. Fort Larned a learning history United States Fort St. Jean Baptiste
center, with numerous rangers and docents in period government negotiated Historic Site
dress providing daily and monthly educational with the Plains Indian
programs about life at a frontier army post. Guided tribes for land ownership
tours held May-September is one of the best ways to and rights in the 19th Confederate Memorial
learn the history of Fort Larned. century settlement and Baton Rouge
Hall Museum
1767 Kansas 156, Larned, KS 67550 conquest of the Indian The 1850 House Chalmette
620-285-6911 NPS.gov Nations West. The Battlefield Site
historic importance of New Orleans
Old Abilene Town the three treaties are
honored every two years
Abilene was founded in 1857, but it was the arrival of
by the Medicine Lodge
the Kansas Pacific Railway in 1867 that transformed
Treaty Association at the
Abilene into the legendary town at the end of the
Medicine Lodge Treaty
Chisholm Trail from Texas. Old Abilene Town is dedicated
Indian Summer Days.
to promoting and preserving the colorful and popular the United States and the world. Tours the
history and heritage of the wickedest and wildest cow Medicine Lodge Indian Peace Treaty Association
P. O. Box 194, 103 East Washington, Medicine Lodge, KS 67104 informative museum at the Battlefields Visitor
town of all the Kansas cow towns. Visitors to Old Abilene Center before enjoying the self-guided tour and visit
620-886-9815 PeaceTreaty.org
Town will enjoy reenactors in period costume, gunfight to the Chalmette Monument, a 100-foot obelisk with
reenactments, special events, stagecoach and steam
engine rides. In 2017, Abilene will be celebrating the
150th Anniversary of famous trail and its transformative
Louisiana 122 interior steps to the top. A unique way to visit
the Park is by the Creole Queen paddlewheeler from
New Orleans French Quarter; inquire with the park
history of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansasand the nation, Chalmette Battlefield Site for information.
throughout the year, with the grand celebration at Old On January 9, 1815, General Andrew Jackson led
Abilene Town, September 1-3, 2017. 8606 W. St. Bernard Hwy, Chalmette, LA 70043
U.S. forces over the British in a resounding victory to 504-281-0510 NPS.gov
100 SE 5th St. Abilene, KS 67410 785-479-0952 end the War of 1812 at Chalmette Battlefield Site
OldAbileneCowtown.com/AbileneCityHall.com (Battle of New Orleans) at Jean Lafitte National Confederate Memorial Hall Museum
Historical Park and Preserve. Visitors to the national
Medicine Lodge Treaty Site park can walk the field of battle and learn how Understanding the influence of Southern United States
Jacksons victory changed the course of history for history and the Confederacy on the history, settlement,
The Medicine Lodge Treaty Site National Historic politics and war in the American West is a critical part
Landmark in Kansas, is as important as Fort Laramie

All Aboard!
The Far-Famed Georgetown Loop
Historic Mining & Railroad Park

A TrAin For ALL SeASonS And occASionS

www.GeorgetownLoopRR.com
888-456-6777
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 of the story of 19th century America. Opened in
1891 in New Orleans Warehouse District, the
Confederate Memorial Hall Museum is dedicated to
honoring Southern history.
929 Camp St., New Orleans, LA 70130
504-523-4522 ConfederateMuseum.com

The 1850 House

In New Orleans Jackson Square, the 1850 House
museum is dedicated to the family history of
Baroness Micaela Almonester de Pontalba, whose
father Don Andres Almonester y Roxas funded the
construction of St. Louis Cathedral. The Upper and
Lower Pontalba Buildings are considered the
oldest apartment houses in the nation. The
Museum has recreated one of the residences to
mirror middle class life in antebellum New Orleans.
523 St. Ann St., New Orleans, 70116
504-524-9118 The1850House.com

Fort St. Jean Baptiste Historic Site

The French were in Natchitoches in west-central
Louisiana trading with local Indians as early as
1699. The trading post on the Red River was
founded in 1714 as a trading post and was
oldest city in the Louisiana purchase. The Fort St.
Jean Baptiste Historic Site reconstructs the
French fort built in defense of the Spanish Empire
to the West. When in the area, dont miss a tour
of historic Natchitoches, and the nearby Fort
Jesup State Historic Site, built under the
leadership Lt. Col. Zachary Taylor as a key
American outpost between the Red and Sabine
rivers in 1822.
155 Rue Jefferson, Natchitoches, LA 71457

Knight Museum and

318-357-3101 Natchitoches.net/Crt.State.LA.us

Sandhills Center Spring Street Historical Museum

The Shreve Town Company founded Shreveport to
develop a town at the crossroads of the Texas Trail
On the edge of the and the Red River in 1836. The development led to
the opening of the river as a navigable waterway
Nebraska Sandhills.
Ne for steamships with the clearing of the Red Rivers
infamous Great Raft logjam. The Spring Street
Historical Museumexhibits provide an informative
A Railroad town. and educational window into the history of the
gateway Louisiana city to the West.
A Cow-town. 525 Spring St., Shreveport, LA 71101
318-424-0964 SpringStreetMuseum.com

An Ag town.
A
Missouri
Gateway Arch and Old Courthouse
Where history
W Building
runs deep. St. Louiss Gateway Arch, an internationally
recognized landmark of the Gateway City, is the
centerpiece of the citys historic district. Currently,
Largest Genealogy the Museum of Westward Expansion, located
under the Gateway Arch is closed for major
Center in Western renovations, and visitors wanting to visit the Arch
should go to the Old Courthouse Ticket Center. The
Nebraska Old Courthouse is one of the most significant
historical sites in Missouri, with numerous galleries
dedicated to St. Louiss history, and the river citys
role in Westward Expansion and Southern history.
11 N. 4th St., St. Louis, MO 63102
314-655-1700 GatewayArch.com/NPS.gov
Building
i the
h Best
B Hometown
H in
i America
Independence Historic District
KnightMuseum.com The original trailhead of the Santa Fe Trail, historic
Independence on the Missouri River remains one of

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the most important and influential frontier cities
that shaped Americas expansion West. Start your
visitkearney.org
Stop. Play. Stay.

visit to Independence at the Visitor Experience

Center and then take a self-guided walking tour of
Independence Square. While in Independence be
sure to see where Frank James was incarcerated
at the 1859 Jail & Marshals Home; visit the
National Frontier Trails Museum; and, schedule a
covered wagon tour with Pioneer Trails Adventures.
112 W. Lexington, Independence, MO 64050
816-325-7890 CI.Indpendence.MO.us
KEARNEY
visitors bureau
James Farm NEBRASKA
Until 1978, the James Farm was owned by
descendants of the famed outlaw Jesse James.
Today, the historic site in Kearney, Missouri is a
Clay County Museum dedicated to the James
Family, the history of the region, the Border War
and the Jesse and Frank James years as outlaws.
The Visitors Center and Museum is in the restored
19th century family home. SCAN QR CODE FOR
21216 Jesse James Farm Rd., Kearney, MO 64060
MOBILE WEBSITE
816-736-8500 JesseJames.org

Jesse James Home/

Pattee House Museum
Located at the same location, the Pattee House
Museum and the Jesse James Home, where the
famous outlaw was shot and killed by Robert Ford
on April 3, 1882. The Pattee House was built as a
hotel in 1858, was the headquarters for the Pony
Express in 1860-61 and was occupied by the ARCHWAY
Union Army during the Civil War. A National Historic
Landmark, the Pattee House has a superior
collection of exhibitions dedicated to 19th century
Missouri life. The Jesse James House has an exhibit
on Jesse James life in St. Joseph and his grave.
1202 Penn St., St. Joseph, MO 64503
816-232-8206 PonyExpressJesseJames.com

Mark Twain Historic District

Walk the streets of historic Hannibal and a visitor
can imagine a young Samuel Clemens growing in
the town and the Mississippi River. Start at the
Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum, which
includes eight historic properties, for a complete
immersion into the real life of Twain. Tour the Mark
Twain Interpretive Center and discover how the
great American author transformed his own life
and friends into the imaginary lives of his novels
fictional characters. Two tours not to miss: Mark
Twain Cave and the Mark Twain Riverboat cruise
on the Mississippi.
120 N. Main St., Hannibal, MO 63401 573-221-9010
ExploreHannibal.com/MarkTwainMuseum.org

St. Joseph Historic District

Known best as the trailhead for the Pony Express,
St. Josephs historic district will inspire the
imagination and remind visitors of the importance of
Missouris western frontier towns to American
history. Begin tours of historic St. Joseph at the
Pony Express Museum, followed by a visit to the
extraordinary St. Joseph Museum, with its extensive
exhibitions on the culture and history of the region,
including American Indian and Civil War exhibitions.
Also, dont miss the Pattee House Museum, Jesse
James Home, Robidoux Row Museum and Pony
Express Monument.
St. Joseph CVB: 109 South 4th St., St. Joseph, MO 64501
800-785-0360 StJoMo.com

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 Mark Twain Historic District
Jesse James Home
St. Joseph Historic District
Pattee House Museum
James Farm
IndependenceHistoric District
Kansas City Westport Landing

St. Louis
Jefferson City Gateway Arch&
Old Courthouse Building

Springfield

Westport Landing Fort Kearny State Historical Park

While St. Louis, Independence and St. Joseph receive
more attention from historiansand have more
historic sites associated with the Western trails
Westport Landing was actually the site that wagon
trains and wagon train bosses preferred for many
years to prepare and provision for the transcontinental
journey to Oregon or Santa Fe. Visit the Harris-Kearney
House Museum managed by the Westport Historical
Society in the Kansas City suburb of Westport and
learn about life in the 19th-century frontier town and
its role in the development of the West.
4050 Pennsylvania Ave., Suite M100, Kansas City, MO 64111
816-531-4370 WestportHistorical.com
Nebraska
Buffalo Bill State Historical Park
Buffalo Bill State Historical Park preserves Scouts Rest
Ranch, the home and life of the great Western
showman William F. Buffalo Bill. Cody first began
ranching in the area in 1877 and began building a
major farm and ranch operation in North Platte in
1878. A major enterprise, Cody and his family made
their home at the Nebraska ranch for many years. He
owned the home and property until 1911. The park
includes the Cody House and the historic barn. The
ranch is also noted as the place Cody debuted his Wild
West show, known as the Old Glory Blowout, in 1882.
2921 Scouts Rest Ranch Rd., North Platte, NE 69101
308-535-8035 VisitNorthPlatte.com/OutdoorNebraska.gov
Chimney Rock National Historic Site
A landmark for travelers in the North Platte River Valley
FORT SMITH NATIONAL for centuries, Chimney Rock National Historic Site
HISTORIC SITE (1871)
protects the unique geological site in the Sand Hills of
Fort Kearny State Historical Park preserves and
promotes the history of the U.S. Armys role in
protecting the Overland Trails along the Platte River
in central Nebraska. Founded in 1848, Fort Kearny
served the region until 1871. In 1928, the Fort
Kearny Historical Society bought 40 acres for a park
and rebuilt key structures: the stockade, powder
magazine, carpenter-blacksmith shop, and the
parade grounds. The park has an interpretive center
and hosts living history events throughout the year.
1020 V Rd., Kearney, NE 68845
308-865-5305 OutdoorNebraska.gov
Fort Robinson State Park
Fort Robinson State Park is one of the most
historically significantand largest state parksin
Nebraska. Near Crawford, with dozens of historical
buildings and museums on site, Fort Robinson
encompasses 22,000 acres, with numerous houses
and camping spots for rent. Fort Robinson was
founded in 1874 and served the army until 1947.
Fort Robinson was involved in some of the most
critical events of the Great Sioux War, including the
site where Crazy Horse surrendered and was later
killed; the Dull Knife breakout of the Northern
Cheyenne; and, the Fort Robinson Massacre.
Soldier Creek Rd., Crawford, NE 69339
308-665-2900 OutdoorNebraska.gov
Homestead National Monument
of America
The Homestead National Monument of America in
Beatrice, Nebraska, honors the history of
homesteading and the men, women and families who
staked so much on 160 acre homesteads with the
hope of building an independent life and future. Tours

200
western Nebraska just east of another significant should begin at the Heritage Center, which has an
YEARS OF AMERICAN landmark in the area, Scotts Bluff. Explorers, fur excellent museum, followed up by an outdoor tour of
trappers and emigrants on the Oregon Trail. Chimney
FRONTIER HERITAGE Rock is managed by the Nebraska Historical Society
the park, including the Education Center, Palmer-
Epard Cabin and Freeman School.
RELIVE HISTORY THROUGH STORIES OF and includes a Visitor Center Museum.
8523 NE-4, Beatrice, NE 68310 402-223-3514 NPS.gov
THE TRAIL OF TEARS, HANGING JUDGE Chimney Rock Trail, Bayard, NE 69334
ISAAC C. PARKER, AND U.S. MARSHALS
308-586-2581 NebraskaHistory.org

WHO SERVED JUSTICE BEYOND THE EDGE

OF INDIAN TERRITORY. Fort Robinson State Park

Scotts Bluff National Monument

Gering Chimney Rock
National Historic Site
Grand Island
Buffalo Bill State Historical Park Omaha
Fort Kearny State Historical Park Lincoln
Rock Creek Station
State Historical Park
WWW . TOURFORTSMITH . COM Homestead National
Monument of America

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 WANT
Rock Creek Station
State Historical Park REAL
Rock Creek Station State Historical Park is the site
of the stage coach station where James Butler
Wild Bill Hickok had his shootout with Dave
McCanles. Working as a stock boy, Hickoks feud
HISTORY?
with the local McCanles ended with Wild Bills
enemy dead, and the beginning of a Western
legends career as a gunfighter.
57426 710th Rd., Fairbury, NE 68352
402-729-5777 OutdoorNebraska.gov

Scotts Bluff National Monument

Scotts Bluff National Monument is dedicated to
interpreting the culture, heritage and history of
Scotts Bluff and the North Platte River Valley.
During the early 19th century, European and
American fur trappers plied the paths along the
North Platte to and from the West, way-marking a
key trail that would guide the way West for
successive generations of emigrants. Tours of the
park should star indoors at the Visitor Center, but
the strength of the monument is in its numerous
trails, including the Oregon Trail Pathway and the
North and South Overlook.
190276 Old Oregon Trail, Gering, NE 69341
308-436-9700 NPS.gov visitelpaso.com
Get the official app:

Great Reads:
David Howard Bains Empire Express:
Building the First Transcontinental Railroad
Michael J. Brodheads Isaac C. Parker:
Federal Justice on the Frontier
Frank Maynards Cowboys Lament:
A Life on the Open Range
Frank McLynns Wagons West:
The Epic Story of Americas Overland Trails
Joanna L. Strattons Pioneer Women:
Voices from the Kansas Frontier
Paul Williamss Jackson, Crockett and Houston
on the American Frontier: From Fort Mims to the
Alamo, 1813-1836

Classic Films & TV

The Big Trail
The Homesman
How The West was Won
The Outlaw Josie Wales
Wyatt Earp

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Bookmaster@Guidon.com Guidon.com
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Celebrate the holidays in Buffalo Bill Codys 1886 mansion, featuring caroling and horse-drawn rides.
AUC TIO N
PrEmiEr firEarms auCtion
Online, December 2-4: Collectible weapons are up
for bid by the worlds leading auction house for
historical firearms and military artifacts.
800-238-8022 RockIslandAuction.com
HE RITA G E F EST I VA L
rED roCk balloon rally
Gallup, NM, December 2-4: Watch hot air balloons
glow above the rocks at this festival that also
features Indian dances and a parade.
1-800-242-4282 RedRockBalloonRally.com
HOLIDAY F ESTI VA LS
Christmas in olD DoDgE City
Dodge City, KS, Through December 25: This 1872
cowtown celebrates with a Christmas tree lighting
ceremony, a chili cook-off and a light parade.
800-653-9378 VisitDodgeCity.org
for DECEmbEr 2016
Christmas at thE CoDys
North Platte, NE, December 2 - 23:
308-535-0835 VisitNorthPlatte.com
Country Christmas
Las Vegas, NV, December 1-10: More than 400
vendors, exhibitors and retailers have their finest
Cowboy Christmas gifts on display.
817-599-7664 CountryChristmas.com
santas north PolE aDvEnturE
Georgetown, CO, December 1-31: Enjoy hot cocoa,
cookies and candy canes with Santa and his
helpers aboard decorated train coaches.
888-456-6777 GeorgetownLoopRR.com
Christmas at olD fort ConCho
San Angelo, TX, December 2-4: This 1867 fort
celebrates the different cultures of Texas with
living history and 1800s holiday entertainment.
325-657-4441 FortConcho.com frontiEr Christmas at sharlot hall
Prescott, AZ, December 3: Living history actors
Community Christmas ParaDE recount what Christmas was like
Pecos, TX, December 3: Watch a Christmas in the territorial past.
parade, with brightly decorated floats and live 928-445-3122 Sharlot.org
music, in the town that boasts hosting the worlds
first rodeo, in 1883.
432-445-2406 VisitPecos.com
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 for december 2016

Prescott courthouse christmas Lighting

christmas oPen house
Canyon, TX, December 4: History re-enactors open up Pioneer Town for an
1890s holiday celebration featuring live music and storytelling.
806-651-2244 PanhandlePlains.org
Prescott, AZ, December 3: Arizonas Christmas
City kicks off the holidays with a Christmas tree
lighting ceremony and a visit from Santa Claus.
928-777-1100 Visit-Prescott.com
high PLains christmas
Gering, NE, December 3: This High Plains
holiday gathering features hay rides, marsh-
mallow roasts and bonfire cowboy coffee.
308-436-1989 LegacyOfThePlains.org
christmas Past and Present
Grand Island, NE, December 3 & 11: This lamp-lit
tour of Railroad Town offers live music in a
festive celebration of the spirit of Christmas.
308-385-5316 StuhrMuseum.org
cowboys on main
Bandera, TX, December 3-31: Strolling
entertainers and history re-enactors bring frontier
Christmas to life in front of the county courthouse.
830-796-4447 BanderaCowboyCapital.com
Light of the worLd christmas Pageant
Minden, NE, December 4 & 11: Minden
celebrates 100 Years of Lights with
15,000 lights strung throughout downtown.
308-832-1811 MindenNE.org

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 wiCkenburg Christmas
parade oF lights
Wickenburg, AZ,
December 9:
Colorfully-lit floats parade
through the streets while
Santa and Mrs. Claus
ride through historic
downtown.
928-684-5479
WickenburgChamber.com

Cowboy Capital Christmas new years eve torChlight parade

Bandera, TX, December 6: The self-proclaimed Taos, NM, December 31: Skiers ring in the
Cowboy Capital of the World celebrates with a New Year as they make their way down a
parade, living nativity and re-enactments. mountain lit up by torches and a fireworks show.
800-364-3833 BanderaCowboyCapital.com 866-968-7386 SkiTaos.com

Fort larned Christmas open house R O DEO & HOR SE SHO W

Larned, KS, December 10: Travel back to Fort
Larned in 1859 for an old-fashioned Yuletide
celebration with Christmas carols and hot cider.
620-285-6911 NPS.gov/fols
bar d wranglers Christmas Jubilee
Durango, CO, December 17: Country crooners
perform their traditional Christmas show with
Western music and poetry and humor.
970-247-3500 DurangoConcerts.com
luminaria tour
Albuquerque, NM, December 24: Tour the glowing
streets of Old Town Albuquerque as they are lit
with beautiful holiday luminarias.
505-768-4575 CABQ.gov
2016 nrha Futurity
Oklahoma City, OK, December 1: Celebrating 50
years, the National Reining Horse Association
hosts top reining horse competitions.
power and prestige:
405-946-7400 NRHAFuturity.com headresses oF the ameriCan plains
wrangler national Finals rodeo Oklahoma City, OK, Through May 14, 2017:
Las Vegas, NV, December 1-10: Fifteen View an extensive collection of American Indian
contestants compete for titles in bareback riding, war bonnets while learning about the history of
steer wrestling, team roping and more. these emblematic items.
405-478-2250
702-739-3267 NFRExperience.com NationalCowboyMuseum.org
TWMag.com:
View Western events on our website.

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 GET EM
Order yours before they are gone!
True West is one of the most collectible
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issues have sold for as high as $300!)
Collect your favorites now, as the love for
history will never go out of date!

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True Grit/Bridges & Wayne Butch and Sundance Tombstone-The Walk Down Women Who Left Their Mark First Mountain Man Lonesome Dove
WHILE THEY LAST!
Complete Your Collection
2000 2005 o Oct: Charlie Russell o Sep: The Heros of Northfield
o Jan: Buffalo Bill o Jan/Feb: Rare Photos o Nov/Dec: Mickey Free o Oct: Bravest Lawman You Never
o Mar: Richard Farnsworth o Mar: Deadwood/McShane o Nov: Armed & Courageous
2009
o May: Samuel Walker o Apr: 77 Sunset Trips o Dec: Legend of Climax Jim
o Jan/Feb: Border Riders
o Jun: Frontier Half-Bloods o May: Trains/Collectors Edition o Mar: Poncho Villa 2013
o Jul: Billy & the Kids o Jun: Jesus Out West o Apr: Stagecoach o Jan: Best of the West/John Wayne
o Aug: John Wayne o Jul: All Things Cowboy o May: Battle For The Alamo o Feb: Rocky Mountain Rangers
o Sep: Border Breed o Aug: History of Western Wear o Jun: Custers Ride To Glory o Apr: US Marshals
o Oct: Halloween Issue o Sep: Gambling o Jul: Am West, Then & Now o May: Texas Rangers
o Nov: Apache Scout o Oct: Blaze Away/Wyattt o Aug: Wild West Shows o Jun: Docs Last Gunfight
o Dec: Mountain Men o Nov/Dec: Gay Western? Killer DVDs o Sep: Vaquero/500 Yrs Before CBs o Jul: Comanche Killers!
2001 2006 o Oct: Capturing Billy o Aug: Tombstone 20th Annv
o Jan: Topless Gunfighter o Jan/Feb: Mexican Insurgents o Nov/Dec: Chaco Canyon o Sep: Ambushed on the Pecos
o May/Jun: Custer o Mar: Kit Carson o Oct: Outlaws,Lawmen & Gunfighters
2010
o Jul: Cowboys & Cowtowns o Apr: Ive Been Everywhere, Man o Nov: Soiled Doves
o Jan/Feb: Top 10 Western Towns o Dec: Cowboy Ground Zero
o May: The Racial Frontier Mar: Trains/Pony Express
2002 o
o Jun: Playing Sports in the OW o Apr: OW Destinations/Clint Eastwood 2014
o Aug/Sep: Jesse James o Jul/Aug: Dude! Wheres My Ranch?
o Oct: Billy On The Brain o May: Legendary Sonny Jim o Jan: Best 100 Historical Photos
o Sep: Indian Yell o Jun: Extreme Western Adventures o Feb: Assn. of Pat Garrett
o Nov/Dec: Butch & Sundance o Oct: Tombstone/125th Ok Corral o Jul: Starvation Trail/AZ Rough Riders o Mar: Stand-up Gunfights
2003 o Nov: Gambling o Aug: Digging Up Billy the Kid o Apr: Wyatt Earp Alaska
o Jan: 50 Historical Photos o Dec: Buffalo Gals & Guys o Sep: Classic Rodeo! o May: Tom Horn
o Feb/Mar: 50 Guns 2007 o Oct: Extraordinary Western Art o Jun: Custer Captured
o Apr: John Wayne o Jan/Feb: Cowboys Are Indians o Nov/Dec: Black Warriors of the West o Jul: 50 Historical Gunfighter Photos
o Spring: Jackalope Creator Dies o Mar: Trains/Jim Clark o Aug: Bigfoot Wallace/Train Robberies
o May/Jun: Custer Killer 2011
o Apr: Western Travel o Sep: New Billy Photo/Top Museums
o Jul: Doc & Wyatt o Jan/Feb: Sweethearts of the Rodeo o Oct: Charlie Russell/Movie Hats
o May: Dreamscape Desperado/Billy o Mar: 175th Anniv Battle of the Alamo
o Aug/Sep: A General Named Dorothy o Jun: Collecting the West/Photos o Nov: Wild Bills's Last Gunfight
o Oct: Vera McGinnis o Apr: Three True Grits o Dec: Olive Oatman-Branded
o Jul: Man Who Saved The West o May: Historic Ranches
o Nov/Dec: Worst Westerns Ever o Aug: Western Media/Best Reads o Jun: Tin Type Billy 2015
2004 o Sep: Endurance Of The Horse o Jul: Viva, Outlaw Women!
o Jan/Feb: Six Guns o Oct: 3:10 To Yuma o Jan: 100 Historical Am. Indian Photos
o Aug: Was Geronimo A Terrorist?
o Mar: Fakes/Fake Doc o Nov/Dec: Brad Pitt & Jesse James o Sep: Western Museums/CBs & Aliens o Feb: Mountain Man-First Survivalists
o April/Travel: Visit the Old West Oct: Hard Targets o Mar: Mickey Free/Severed Heads
2008 o
o May:Iron Horse/Sacred Dogs o Nov/Dec: Butch Cassidy is Back o Apr: Jack Stilwell-Forgotten Scout
o Jan/Feb: Pat Garrett/No Country o May: Armed to Survive
o Jun: HBOs Deadwood o Mar: Who Killed the Train?
o Jul: 17 Legends 2012 o Jun: Billy the Kid-Special Report
o Apr: Travel/Geronimo o Feb: Az Crazy Road to Statehood o Jul: 50 Historical Photos-Panco Villa
o Aug: JW Hardin o May: Who Stole Buffalo Bills Home?
o Sep: Wild Bunch o Mar: Special Entertainment Issue o Aug: Luke Short-Dodge City War
o Jun: The Last Cowboy President? o Apr: Riding Shotgun with History o Sep: Crossing America-Lewis & Clark
o Oct: Bill Pickett o Jul: Secrets of Our Natl Parks/Teddy
o Nov/Dec: Dale Evans o May: The Outlaw Cowboys of NM o Oct: Wyatt Earp in Hollywood
o Aug: Kendricks Northern CBs/Photos o Jun: Wyatt On The Set! o Nov: 22 Guns that Won the West
o Sep: Saloons & Stagecoaches o July: Deadly Trackers o Dec: The First Mountain Man
o Aug: How Did Butch & Sundance Die?

See the complete collection of available back issues

online at the True West Store!
Store.TrueWestMagazine.com
1-888-687-1881
 Marshall Trimble is Arizonas official
historian and vice president of the
Wild West History Association.
His latest book is Arizonas Outlaws
and Lawmen; History Press, 2015.
If you have a question, write:
Ask the Marshall, P.O. Box 8008,
Cave Creek, AZ 85327 or e-mail him at

Keep Your
marshall.trimble@scottsdalecc.edu

BY Marshall TriMBle

Stache Dry
Why would an Old Francisco, California, that took 25 days,
West saloon have the Butterfield Overland Mail stagecoach
white towels on the traveled about 110 miles a day, averaging
front of the bar? roughly four and a half miles per hour.
Chuck Terry
Columbus, Ohio What happened to the bodies of those
Bartenders hung
killed at the Alamo?
towels on the bar so Steve Frost
Petersburg, Virginia
that imbibers could
wipe the beer foam San Antonio Alcalde Francisco Antonio
off their mouths. They Ruiz gave the most concise account of
were community the aftermath of the Texas Revolution
towels. You can battle that ended on March 6, 1836.
imagine how easily Soldiers buried the Mexican corpses
drinking buddies shared in the graveyard, but when it was full,
afflictions, such as colds, the flu or Saloon patrons wiped the foam off their dumped the rest of the bodies in the river.
tuberculosis. mustaches on mustache rags, which you In terms of the Texian defenders, Gen.
can see hanging from the bar in this 1901 Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna sent out
Were cowboys superstitious? photograph of the Palace Hotels saloon dragoons to nearby forests to bring in
Bill Dunn in Prescott, Arizona Territory. wood and branches. They took all the
High River, Alberta, Canada true West ArcHives bodies to Alameda Road and built a funeral
Rodeo cowboys believed in dozens pyre. At about three the next afternoon, the
of superstitions. Some of them include: How fast could a stagecoach travel? soldiers began placing dead bodies over
Never eat chicken before a rodeo because Mitchell McClure the bed of wood and kindling, with another
you are what you eat. Never wear Rayville, Louisiana pile of wood placed on top of the bodies.
yellow in the arena because the color is The speed of stagecoach travel during They repeated this until all the bodies were
associated with cowardice. Never set a the Old West era depended on whether stacked. At 8 p.m., they lit the fires.
cowboy hat on a bed because (for some the terrain was flat or mountainous The charred remains reportedly
reason) that could lead to a major injury and on the condition of the roads. To smoldered for days. The Alamo
or death the long sleep. To clean give you an estimate: For the 2,812 defenders ashes stayed for a year until
yourself up for Lady Luck, always shave miles from Tipton, Missouri, to San they were buried in unknown locations.
before a performance.

Why do Westerns feature guns that John Butterfield

didnt exist at the time period? made the nine-
Richard Klingenberger passenger
Rochester, New York celerity wagon
between 1858
Movies sometimes hot rod firearms
and 1861. The
or alter a later model to look like an
name Celerity
earlier model. Gun expert Jim Dunham,
comes from the
who has advised on Westerns, says, Rule Latin root celer,
# 1: Dont get information from movies. meaning swift.
They are almost always wrong on history, PublisHed in
people, costumes, events, weapons, etc. Frank LesLies
iLLustrated newspaper,
OctOber 23, 1858

t r u e
110 w e st
This 10-gauge Richards Shotgun with
a short barrel is a nice example of the
shotgun Doc Holliday carried during the
O.K. Corral gunfight. Since Hollidays Raised on the
coat probably covered the stock of MotheR Road
his weapon, historians can see why
eyewitness Addie Bourland mistook the
scattergun for a dark bronze pistol.
COurTesy Abe HAys, ArizOnA WesT GAllery

What
led to the
O.K. Corral
gunfight in Tombstone,
Arizona Territory?
Axel Doling
Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
The lead-up is pretty complicated.
The Earp brothers and the Cowboys
had been tense for several months,
disagreeing over local politics, power
and law and order. Everything came to
a head on October 26, 1881.
Cowboy Ike Clanton went around
Tombstone, threatening to kill the Earp
brothers and John Henry Doc Holliday.
Marshal Virgil Earp cracked Clanton
over the head with a pistol and arrested
him. The court fined Ike for carrying a
gun within town limits and released him.
Then Wyatt Earp confronted Tom
McLaurywhich ended when Earp
pistol whipped the Cowboy. Tempers
were up by early afternoon.
Several Cowboys gathered in an
What Was it like
empty lot behind the O.K. Corral.
Evidence suggests the McLaurys
were planning to leave town, but they
gRoWing up on
lingered too long and remained armed.
The Earps and Holliday went to
the WoRlds Most
faMous tWo-lane
arrest the lawbreakers. Virgil handed
Holliday a shotgun to conceal under
his coat. As the lawmen approached

blacktop?
Ra is ed
the lot, Sheriff John Behan told them M ot he R
on th e
Ro ad
he had disarmed the Cowboys. Wyatt
and Virgil put away their pistols.
Moments later, the Earp crowd
noticed that Frank McLaury and Billy
F ind out in the ne w
Clanton were armed. Tom McLaury
book by Bob Boze Bel l
may or may not have been armed, but Av A ilA B le N O w !
he had a rifle within easy reach, in a order your copy at: store.twmag.com
scabbard on Franks horse. or BobBozeBell.net
The two sides were a few feet away or call 1-888-687-1881
when Virgil shouted, Boys throw up
your hands. I want your guns!
Both sides misinterpreted the others gRoWing up
on Route 66,
the WoRlds
ous tWo-lane Most faM
intentions. History does not record bob bo
Ze bell
blacktop

who made the first move, but the ball

opened. And we know what happened
from there.

t r u e
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 For The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward
Robert Ford, Ron Hansen was not only on set to
ensure lines were historically accurate, but also
played a frontier reporter in the 2007 movie. Hansen
wears his set headphones in the below photo of him
with Brad Pitt, who starred as Jesse James.

SET PHOTOS COURTESY WARNER BROS. / RON HANSEN; THE KID COVER BY CAMERON WHITMAN/SHUTTERSTOCK
An early Western hero of mine was Davy
Crockett, thanks to Fess Parker and his TV show.

A Jesuit education introduced me to the classics,

history, philosophy, theology and other subjects that are too
often neglected in public schools.

An author who influenced me at an early age is Edgar

Allan Poe. His wild imagination captivated me. In high school, I
discovered John Updike, a very different writer and an impeccable
stylist. The first great Westerns I read were Jack Schaefers Shane
and Walter Van Tilburg Clarks The Ox-Bow Incident.

Serving in the Army during the early 1970s landed

me at Arizonas Fort Huachuca, which had the largest horse
population of any Army post. I rode over wide-open grasslands
and desert, feeling very much like a cowhand.

RON HANSEN, AUTHOR

At the Iowa Writers Workshop, 30-year-old John
Irving was my first teacher and mentor. Many of his writing
habits became mine.
Writing Western ction forces you to imagine far
more and research more deeply just because of its foreignness. It
generally asks bold questions of good and evil, right conduct and
wrong, that arent touched on in much contemporary fiction.
My favorite course to teach is Reading Film, an
introduction to the practicalities of moviemaking and the history
of the art form that focuses on directors who are masters of the
craft. This quarter, I concentrated on Stanley Kubrick.
Growing up in Omaha, Ron Hansen found the Old West present in
Nebraskas cornfields, wilderness and railroad tracks full of empty
boxcars. Following his U.S. Army career, he earned an M.F.A. from
the Iowa Writers Workshop in 1974, held the Wallace Stegner
Creative Writing Fellowship at Stanford University and earned an
M.A. in Spirituality from Santa Clara University, where he teaches
writing and literature. He mixes history with morality in his novels.
His first novel, 1979s Desperadoes, reimagines the Dalton Gang.
His 1983 novel, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward
Robert Ford, landed on the short list for the PEN/Faulkner Award.
His latest novel, The Kid, delves into the life of outlaw Billy the
Kid. He lives in California with his wife, writer Bo Caldwell.

When my novel became a Jesse James
movie, I was at first suspicious of how the screenplay for The
Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford would
look, but Andrew Dominiks gorgeous script was completely
faithful to the novel. I thought Warner Bros. would change the
title to something shorter, but Brad Pitt liked my title so much,
he had it written into his contract that the studio couldnt alter it.
If I could ask Emmett Dalton anything, I would ask
why he and his brothers simultaneously robbed two banks in
their hometown of Coffeyville, Kansas, where everybody knew
them. I guessed at the answer in Desperadoes, but the attack may
have been more personal, perhaps even a vendetta.
Billy the Kids life shows how important a fathers
influence can be on teenage boys. Orphaned at 14 and cruelly
ignored by his stepfather, he hero-worshipped men a little older than
him who themselves were killed off right in front of the Kid.
The biggest problem in writing fictional history is people
think they already know the story, when its often a botched version
of someones life. They are generally pleasantly surprised by the facts.
My favorite Billy the Kid movie is One-Eyed Jacks,
based on Charles Neiders The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones.
Marlon Brando and Karl Malden are versions of the Kid and Pat
Garrett, and the acting and dialogue are terrific.
The secret to capturing the Kids life is a form of
method acting. I found situations comparable to the historical ones I
wrote about and recalled how I had handled them. A lot of myself is in
any character I imagine, but I felt a kinship to Billy.

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